The Island
by SonadowStories
Summary: SONADOW! Sonic thought he deserved a break and goes away for a trip and Rouge convinces Shadow to go along with him to give him a chance away from their friends to confess his feelings, but the plane they're on crashes and they only just make it on the nearest Island. With Sonic afraid of water and Shadow unable to use Chaos Control without an emerald, the two are stuck.
1. Chapter 1-1

_This and all following chapters are actually part of a really long chapter that I've divided into three or more parts for this site as and DA aren't as easy to read long chapters on as Inkbunny._

 _That said, just because this story comes from Inkbunny doesn't mean that too much adult material will appear throughout this fic._

 _And I should probably mention that there will be A LOT of Mpreg in this long, long story. But still I hope you guys enjoy it._

 _Disclaimer: The Sonic franchise is owned by SEGA and this counts for all the upcoming chapters._

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 1**

 **Sonic's POV**

I coughed, trying to get as much water out of my system as was possible. Even though the air around me was warm, I was still shivering as my fur and clothes were completely drenched.

"Come on." I groaned and dragged someone along with me away from the water and further up the shore, my hold on the hedgehog's top and arm weak as my every fiber was exhausted and trembled from the effort, my muscles burning.

Unwillingly I let him drop down on the sand while I fell on my hands and knees besides him, panting and coughing. I looked over to the dark hedgehog and checked for any sign of life.

There was a pulse and he was breathing. He was still with me.

I fell down on the sand on my back next to him and looked up to the orange sky. The sun was setting, the day slowly turning into night. Deciding that it wouldn't be so bad to give in, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to be taken away by my exhaustion.

* * *

\- Three Days Earlier -

"A vacation?" I asked, staring at my little brother as if he had just grown a second head.

We were both sitting at the kitchen table and we were enjoying a nice breakfast until my bro suddenly decided to bring this up.

"Yeah! You've been fighting Eggman for a long time with no breaks and we all agree that you deserve a little bit of a vacation." The twin-tailed kitsune, Tails, told me with a smile before practically shoving a brochure in my face.

I took it in my hands and briefly read it before looking back at him again.

"I can't do this." I said and left the brochure on the table in front of me for me to check out.

"Why not?" Tails asked, looked a bit disappointed as he only wanted to help me.

"Isn't it obvious? I can't just leave you alone for that long! You're only fourteen!" I responded, a bit surprise that it wasn't as obvious to him as it was to me.

That's what I thought at first, but than he started chuckling a little and I figured that he had probably thought about that too.

"Don't worry about me! I can stay with Cream and miss Vanilla!" He said, shutting me up before I could ask what was so funny.

"That is... Okay..." I answered, still uncertain.

"So you're going?!" The kitsune asked in glee.

"No, what about Eggman?" I brought another matter up.

"You don't have to worry about him! We can hold him off on our own while you're away! You'll have the time of your life I swear!" Once again Tails managed to reassure me that I had nothing to worry about.

I hate to say it, but he brings up some pretty good points. They have handled Eggman without my help before. It's given me the freetime to travel before and now I could do it again, except this time I didn't need to stick to our continent.

"Fine." I relented with a soft sigh, to which Tails smiled in absolute glee.

He was obviously happy to see me agree to his idea. It just seemed natural to me. I was his caretaker, I was practically his parent, of course Tails, like any other kid, couldn't wait to have a few days away from his elder so he could have some fun.

Every kid sometimes wanted their parents away for some time, mostly because they wanted to do things they weren't allowed to just for fun. Although I highly doubt Vanilla would allow any of his future shenanigans.

Well, either way, looks like I'm going.

* * *

\- Eight Hours Ago -

I looked up to the small plane in confusion standing there on the airstrip, ready to take off.

 _'So this is what's going to take me to my destination? I expected it to be... bigger.'_ I thought as I looked the contraption over.

I had expected something a little larger as I thought more people would be coming along, but so far the only people present were me, the pilot and this small group of guys dressed in fancy suits with briefcases and a few sturdy looking dudes, the typical businessmen and women with their bodyguards. They were probably on their way to the same hotel I was to close some deal or whatever.

Was this really it? Was I traveling first class or something? I hope not, I wouldn't want anyone to pay so much for me.

I looked back down at the brochure I held. Something was off, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I sighed and stuffed it back in my pocket again. It was Tails and our friends who gave me this opportunity to go on this trip. Surely I could trust this. I guess it's just a feeling that I had.

Right?

That question could only be answered by facing my doubts. I boarded the small aircraft after my luggage was taken care off and got comfortable in one of the seats close to the window, figuring I would be here for quite a while.

I was contemplating if this was really the right decision when I heard someone else board the plane, following the group of fancy people.

I was surprised to see just who it was that decided to join me on this vacation.

"Shadow!" I called out to him.

Said hedgehog jumped in surprise as I startled him and looked back at me. He picked a seat at the window in the opposite row after a simple wave.

"Hey." He greeted me as he sat down. He seemed a bit flustered.

In fact, Shadow has always seemed flustered and a bit awkward around me for well over a year now and it seemed to get worse each time we met. It took some serious getting used to seeing that usually stoic attitude of his melting away and even disappear completely around me.

Years of taking care of Tails, he was fourteen now, gave me an eye for certain things. I remember when Tails had his first little crush when he was only seven years old and that time Amy still thought she was in love with me. They acted the exact same way Shadow has been acting around me lately, though he wasn't quite as obvious yet.

So, of course, I had some notion on what was going on with him, but Rouge had given me the advice to stay quiet about it and let Shadow gather the courage to begin about it himself, stating that it would do him some good. It confirmed what I had been suspecting.

"So Rouge send you away on vacation aswell, huh?" I asked, moving a seat closer to him.

"Yes, she told me that I needed some time to relax since the Commander barely gives me any time off. So she gave me this plane ticket and key to this fancy hotel to stay in for two weeks. No idea why she didn't just come along." He simply responded, turning towards me a little in his seat.

"That's great, you should use that time to kick back and relax." I said, to which Shadow nodded as he agreed with me.

We heard a voice come through the intercom, telling us that we were about to take flight.

"Looks like we'll be the only ones going on this trip for fun." I stated, referring to the the small group of people sitting more towards the front of the plane, to which Shadow nodded again.

"I think I've heard them talk about making this big deal about the future of technology or something farfetched. I'm not too sure." The hedgehog responded and got comfortable in his seat, ready to face hours of flying.

"Well, so long as that technology doesn't lead to killer machines being send back in time to finish me off, than I'm okay with it." I stated with a smile, stretching my arms behind my head. It's gonna take a while before I get up again.

As Shadow let out an amused huff, I knew that Rouge at last made him catch up on popular movie franchises.

"Good thing you've had some practice." He responded and flashed me a look before grabbing a book from the luggage he had with him.

As the plane took off into the sky, we allowed ourselves to relax as we forgot about how few people were around and simply enjoyed the flight and company of a friendly face.

* * *

Hours passed, Shadow had fallen asleep with that book on his lap and a small empty bag of peanuts on the tray of the seat next to him aswell as a can of soda, his guard completely down for once.

I was close to following him to slumberland in my original seat, actually. My eyelids were heavy and it was difficul for me to stay awake from being this inactive for so long. Alas, sometimes running couldn't be my single mode of transportation.

But then something shocking stopped me from falling asleep.

An explosion.

Shadow and I were immediately wide awake. We briefly glanced at eachother in shock and concern before jumping up from our seats. Out of the windows on the right side we could see smoke and fire, one of the engines had caught fire from the mysterious blast.

On our way to the cockpit we found the six other passengers lifeless in their seat, foam and saliva running down the corners of their mouths and their eyes rolled back in their skull.

"Shadow..." I turned to look at him while the whole plane rumbled and shook.

"They were poisoned." Shadow gasped, the cause of death for these people aswell as their bodyguards obvious.

The sudden explosion, the poisoning. It didn't take long to connect the dots and one look at Shadow told me he had figured it out aswell.

Someone had been looking to take these people out and wanted to cover their tracks by crashing the plane. We would just be collateral damage.

With a grip on my shirt, Shadow pulled me along to the cockpit, only to find it empty, its door having been ripped clean off its hinches by the blast.

We were the only ones left.

"Sonic, we need to get out of here now!" Shadow yelled over to me, trying to be heard over the deafening sounds all around us as he stated the obvious before searching for parachutes. I quickly followed his example, but there were none.

Just then another blast send us flying out of the cockpit. Luckily we were spared the injuries.

"Sonic?" Shadow called my name as I got up, pulling him along with me as he had landed right on top of me.

I ran towards the door and opened it. The dark hedgehog did not have the time to question my actions as I tightened my grip around his wrist and jumped out, pulling the hedgehog out along with me.

I could heard Shadow call my name in terror as I jumped without a second thought or even a small reminder of my aquaphobia, just barely audible. I pulled him close to my chest, trying to keep him safe as we plummeted down below towards the ocean.

The plane had come down low enough, we should survive.

But as Shadow was below me, though not on purpose, he felt most of our impact with the water and didn't immediatly get air when we sank into the ocean, causing him to pass out and leave me to fight my fear against water just to keep him near the surface and afloat.

I had to get us both to the island that I could see faintly in the distance. I had to.


	2. Chapter 1-2

**The Island: Chapter 2**

 **Sonic's POV**

\- Present -

I groaned as I slowly woke back up. My senses slowly returned and I could feel the warmth of the sun on my body.

I figured I must've slept through the whole night and morning. I brought a hand up to my head and rubbed it as I had a very bad headache, my hand coming in contant with fabric. Something had been laid underneath my head.

"Sonic?" I heard a familiar voice carefully call out to me. I immediatly recognized it as Shadow's.

Hesitantly I opened my eyes, expecting the bright rays of the sun to shine in my eyes, but it didn't. Instead of the sun, I caught Shadow's face in my sight. He wore an expression of concern as he looked down on me, kneeling on hands and knees, his face and torso hovering over mine.

"Shadow?" I acknowledged him and the hedgehog released a sigh of relief before helping me to sit up straight.

When it took me so long to wake up, Shadow feared that I suffered from possible internal damage or something close to that.

I groaned as my headache continued to throb against my skull.

"Headache?" Shadow asked and I nodded, confirming his suspicions.

Suddenly I felt his hand resting against my forehead. I closed my eyes along with his as I enjoyed the comfortable cold that came along with his touch. Slowly I could feel my headache fading away.

When I opened my eyes again, it was completely gone.

"How did you do that?" I asked in surprise and shock, shooting up into a sitting position.

I had no idea Shadow was capable of doing that!

"It's something that I discovered I could do a couple of months ago. My Chaos Energy allows me to heal minor injuries and ailments. It takes a lot out of me, but I'm learning to control it." He explained, also telling me why our bruises and fleshwounds had suddenly disappeared out of nowhere. Including the large cut on his temple where he must've hit his head on rubbish from the plane that could've also knocked him out cold.

"Really? Awesome!" I responded enthousiaticly, amazed that Shadow could do something like this. Looks like I can still learn something new, even right after a plane crash.

Shadow pushed himself upright and up on his feet before walking closer to the ocean. My eyes followed him. It wasn't until I noticed dark shapes in the water that I knew what had caught the hedgehog's attention.

 _'What is that?'_ I asked myself mentally and stood up to follow him, but soon stopped once I had reached the shore line to instead watch Shadow retrieve something from the knee-deep water. It looked like a bag.

"Is this yours?" Shadow asked, holding the sportsbag up in the air. I recognised it as one of the two bags I had used to pack my stuff in.

"Yeah, that's mine." I said and joined him in the water. I took the bag after it was handed to me and hung it over my shoulder, ignoring the fact that it was quickly getting my fur and clothes wet again, before helping Shadow look for more stuff that might be drifting in the water.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked, referring to the debris that drifted all around us.

"Quite a while. A lot of it stayed on the plane, but it seems like you have more luck with your stuff because I have not seen anything of my own." Shadow said, clearly a bit displeased that he had lost all of the belongings he had brought along for what was supposed to be a nice and relaxing vacation.

I placed a hand on his shoulder as a reassuring gesture.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can find a store in a nearby town to buy some new stuff for you. That is, if my money dries up." I reassured him with a chuckle, certain that there had to be some sort of civilisation nearby. Shadow, however, didn't seem to sure and just kept searching.

For our sake he hoped I was right.

* * *

Later on I would discover that my companion's fear of being completely alone on this island wasn't for nothing. I had been wondering through the jungle for at least an hour in a straight line and I had yet to find any sign of mobian or human life. Apparently Shadow was right in assuming we were the only ones stranded on this island.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and released a sigh. It was really hot out here. I was glad I had at least some shade provided to me by all the trees and other plant life.

After walking and searching for another hour and a half, all I came across were more plants and animals. I decided that it was time to head back to the beach, wondering how things were going on Shadow's end.

To say I was surprised once I had returned, was an understatement.

A nice smell reached my nose as I finally returned that evening, having wasted the whole morning and part of the afternoon on sleeping and the remainder of the day on searching for a town or something. I was right in thinking that Shadow was luckier in getting things down on his end.

He had a campfire set up on the sand with some wood that he had found in the forest near the beach and it seemed like the smell came from something Shadow had caught in the ocean.

I dropped my sportsbag on the soft ground, catching my companion's attention.

"Sonic, I caught us something to eat!" The hedgehog stated, holding a pretty big fish on a branch. I wanted to question just how Shadow had managed to catch it, but soon noticed the large burn wound on one of the fish's sides. Looks like Shads uses his powers for other things besides fighting and healing.

I walked closer and dropped down on the sand opposite to him.

I could tell that Shadow didn't have this fish for all that long. His pants were still damp all the way to his thighs, showing how deep he had been in the water to catch our dinner.

"Did you find anything?" Shadow asked, referring to my 'nice' walk through the jungle. I shook my head with a sigh.

"I found no one, absolutely no one. And I even took a little sprint! Looks like we're the only ones here, Shadz." I answered and from the corners of my eyes I could see the darker hedgehog next to me shifting uncomfortably with the thought of being alone with me, as if just realising it was me he would be stuck with. I kept myself from chuckling lightly, knowing that it wouldn't do his self-esteem any good.

Once our dinner was ready, Shadow retrieved it from the fire and pulled out a knife attached to his thigh in its own little holster, briefly explaining that he had found his luggage in the ocean while 'fishing' after all.

I had considered asking what an army knife was doing in his luggage and just how it got past security, but knew that it would be useless. I figured he had a way and a reason.

He then proceeded to cut it in half, the intenstines, bones and head all already removed before roasting it, and handed half of it to me.

"Looks like you've done this before." I couldn't help but notice as Shadow seemed quite handy when it came to surviving.

"Once during a failed G.U.N mission, Rouge and I got stuck in the mountains in the middle of Winter." He started and I knew where this tale was going.

"She was hurt and we were in enemy territory. I wasn't doing so good myself, so my Chaos Energy was used only for healing. I had to go pretty far to take care of us so I could survive until I could take us back home. Rouge just barely made it and I had lost a couple of fingers and toes due to frostbite." He explained, eyes concentrating on the fire gleefully burning on the heap of twigs.

I cringed at the thought. I've heard of Shadow and Rouge being flown over to the closest hospital after successfully escaping from enemy territory through a Chaos Control before collapsing before some strangers' feet. The G.U.N Commander himself had gone over there to check up on his best agents and I, naturally, hitched a ride to see my two missing friends myself.

I hadn't heard the story from Shadow and Rouge could barely remember a thing because of a serious infection plaguing her body most of the time there, but his bandaged hands with a missing pinky and ring finger on his left hand and a missing pinky and index finger on his right had already told me quite the tale. The others and his remaining toes had been salvageable and the missing ones simply regrew because of Shadow's alien DNA. Or that was the hypothesis.

"Afterwards I studied up on survival methods in all sorts of different environments and climates in case I'd ever need them again. I suppose I was right in learning more." Shadow told me, seemingly proud of his knowledge. As he should be.

He began to dig around in his soaked bag and pulled a pocket-sized book out of if that was encased in this plastic bag to protect it from the weather along with his phone. He opened it and gave the book to me. The front read 'The Great Survival Book' despites its small size.

"Rouge told me it was ridiculous to take it along nearly everywhere I go, but it felt safer to take it with me. It might not seem much, but it has served me well. You can take a look if you want." He continued, offering me the book.

It took it and started scrolling through it, trying my best not to get it dirty whilst I ate my half of the fish.

"It's pretty interesting." I stated after my last bite and I wasn't lying.

This book contained all sorts of ways to survive in extreme conditions. It had tips and even pictures to explain as clearly as possibly how to do certain things. It was a pretty nifty book. The scribbles Shadow rode down along the sides of many of the pages helped awell, but I found myself more intrigued by the written words more than the actual meaning as I had never seen the hedgehog's handwriting before.

It was so elegant.

Shadow threw his stick into the fire and stretched his arms and back.

"Well then, I suppose this ends our first day on an uninhabited island." Shadow stated and yawned. It was clear that he was tired and I shared that state of mind. Especially after spending those few hours in the hot jungle.

"Yeah, I guess I'll turn in for the night aswell." I said and yawned afterwards. I grabbed my sportsbag and pulled it closer before I lied down to rest my head on top of it. I looked over at Shadow as he pushed his bag aside and folded up the jacket he wore yesterday when boarding the plane to use it as a pillow.

As both of us got comfortable on the sand, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

"Night, Shad!" I told him and turned over on my side to sleep.

"Good night." Shadow responded as he laid on his side aswell, gaze still focussed on the fire.

I dozed off soon after.

* * *

The next morning I woke up early in the morning for a change. The sun was already high in the sky, but I was lying in the shade. So it wasn't exactly affecting me in any way when I woke up.

As I looked at my right, I didn't just notice that the last remaining embers of the campfire were still dying out, but also that Shadow was nowhere to be seen.

"Shadow?" I muttered with my ears flattening a little in concern as I sat upright.

The hedgehog's absence worried me and made me fear something bad could have happened to him, but, thankfully, Shadow quickly made his presence known to me.

"Get back here!" I could hear a voice shout in anger.

I looked over to the shore line and noticed Shadow attempting to 'fish' again through the use of his Chaos powers and it didn't exactly look like it was going as smoothly as it did yesterday.

I stood up and walked over to the ocean, watching as Shadow tried to keep hold of a fish, but instead ended up losing his balance and falling into the water. A chuckle I couldn't suppress escaped and made Shadow look up to me.

"Sonic, you're awake." He noticed and stood up. He looked annoyed as the fresh t-shirt he wore was now clinging to his figure.

It showed quite a slender, if not slightly feminine, figure, though trained. It was something neither me nor our friends found odd anymore. After knowing Shadow for so long, we weren't surprised to see his curves anymore.

Shads had very a special gender. He used to be an hermaphrodite at birth until the Commander at the time expressed concerns regarding Shadow's ability to keep his ultimate bloodline secret by laying and knocking up more than one woman. With only female reproductive organs, his offspring couldn't possibly be spread all around the world if it was just one individual and so could be easily kept track of.

So Gerald, supposedly reluctantly, got rid of the masculine organ, though Shadow still considered himself very much a herm with the preference of being called a 'he'.

It was a fact Rouge told us and Shadow had to confirm, much to his dislike as he found it embarrassing. We quickly accepted it and got used to it.

Didn't mean I liked seeing it any less then the first time, to be honest.

"Yeah, I am. I see that you're busy trying to catch our next meal." I responded, briefly taking my eyes off the shirt that clung to his torso.

Shadow turned back to face the ocean for a few brief moments before looking back at me with a defeated sigh.

"Yes, I was, but it isn't working out as it should." The hedgehog stated with a sigh.

"Say, Sonic, I actually wanted to discuss something with you." He said as he watched me join him in the water, deciding to help him get us some more food.

I might not like water all that much, I didn't mind staying in the shallow part. Aslong as I can still see the bottom and my feet as clear as day, I'd be okay.

"Go ahead. What did you want to talk about?" I asked as I started to search for something to eat along with him. With my kind of speed, I have to be able to catch something.

"I have been thinking about the plane crash..." Shadow started and I immediatly knew where this was going.

"Those people poisoned, the pilots gone aswell as the parachutes, not even bothering to warn us... Do you think it could've been them who did it?" He asked, taking a little break from fish hunting to face me instead.

"Now that you mention it, I think you might be onto something. Unless they were just cowards who decided to abandon ship instead of doing their jobs." I replied as I stood back up straight again, my hands settling on my hips.

Shadow sighed.

"Well, it's not like any of that matters now. What we should be concerned about is how we will survive until we're found. We have a lot of preparations to make." He said, clearly not looking forward to what had to come next.

"Hey, I got you, don't I? I think I'll be just fine." I complimented him, to which the hedgehog couldn't help but shoot me a small smile, a rare sign to show me how much he appreciated it.

Deciding that he had been in the water for far too long, Shadow left for the shore and dropped down on the warm sand. His knees were bend and his eyes closed as his body rested on the sandy surface.

His smile made way for a frown. His expression looked gloomy.

"I think we'll be here for a while, though. It will take some time before they know that our plane crashed and it will take even longer before they'll find us here in the middle of nowhere. To make matters worse, after a certain time, let's say a year, they will pronounce us dead and stop searching for us." Shadow said, sitting back up with each arm wrapped around a knee.

I was about to open my mouth, but Shad beat me to it.

"I don't mean to be so pessimistic, I know you hate that, but I've seen it happen to plenty of my colleagues." He finished, obviously concerned.

I ceased my search for potential food and joined my companion on the beach, taking a seat right next to him. I lifted a hand and let it settle on his shoulder.

"You always see the bad in everything. Yeah, yeah, being missing sucks, but just stay positive! Have some fun surviving while you can and you'll see that they'll have found us in no time flat!" I said and gave him one of my typical grins.

His slight smile couldn't resist returning with the kind of affect I had on him.


	3. Chapter 1-3

**The Island: Chapter 3**

 **Sonic's POV**

An hour later we still hadn't caught any fish and decided that maybe we would have more luck finding something in the jungle itself.

Staying true to our decision, we were now walking through the deep jungle, passing many trees and other plantlife.

As we jumped over another large root that came up from the ground from a large nearby tree, I could hear Shadow breath a sigh. The heat of the day was getting to both of us, but of course, neither one of us could deny liking it. It was better then the freezing cold of a snowy mountain.

"You okay, Shadow?" I asked as I briefly stopped and turned to look at Shadow from over my right shoulder. The said hedgehog nodded and we were back on our way.

"Over there!" Shadow exclaimed out of nowhere and pointed towards one of the tall tree tops. I squinted my eyes and saw some brightly coloured items.

Fruit.

Mentally thanking the brilliant scientist that gave Shadow his excellent sight, I sprinted over to the tree and looked up. From the footsteps behind me, I knew that Shadow had followed me and came to a halt right next to me. He looked up aswell, also trying to figure out how we would get fruit down in one piece.

We went over several ideas. Chaos Spear was obviously out of the question. Nothing would remain. Then we each took a look at our claws, thinking that maybe they could be used in some way or form. They were sharp, Shadow's obviously more taken care off than mine, but it wasn't something we could try.

It wasn't until I had found a vine that I decided to try it. I didn't even notice Shadow's absence as I returned with the vine in hand. This might help.

After many tries and fails, I finally managed to reach the fruit.

But once I finally got there...

"Oh, you're finally here." Shadow casually said, hanging comfortably on two branches while he plucked all the pieces of fruit and used his shirt to create a little pouch to keep them all safe in, leaving his chest bare.

I was very tempted to oggle at his chest fur, white fluffy goodness no doubt, but there were more important matters. Like how the heck did Shadow get up here before me? He was down at the bottom just a second ago!

I was at a loss for words when I saw the hedgehog in front of me. I wanted to ask how he got here so fast, but I could barely utter a word I was so surprised.

Shadow, fortunatly, knew what I wanted to ask.

"Chaos Control." He simply said and went right back to plucking what the tree had to offer.

* * *

Later on, after getting back down through the use of Shadow's Chaos Control, the two of us walked back to the beach, deciding that the walk back would be nice. The weather was cooling down to comfortable temperatures, so why not enjoy it while it lasts?

The pieces of fruit were still hidden in Shadow's handshift bag. Both of us were glad that we had found them. That meant we had some food for at least another day or two. If we were lucky, even three!

As we reached our destination, Shadow ordered me to get some more wood, which is exactly what I did. I didn't stray too far from the beach, even though I had been kind of wandering around through the jungle only yesterday, I knew that it was probably a good idea to stay together.

Only that way we could be certain we wouldn't lose eachother. Well, not until we know the place a little better.

When I returned, Shadow was sitting in front of the campfire, waiting for the branches I would bring while writing with a pencil on the inside of the survival book's cover.

"What're you writing?" I asked curiously as I dropped the wood on the pile of ashes.

The hedgehog closed the book with the pencil in it and lit the heap of branches with just a snap of his fingers before he answered me, a small trick he had learned from observing Blaze and the way she controls her powers. He liked to try out new things with his powers from time to time.

"I figured that, if we are going to be here a while, we might aswell built up our lives here if we want to make this a temporary stay. I was busy making a list." He responded.

"A list? Can I see it?" I asked and got the book handed to me. I opened it and read all the things Shadow had managed to sum up so far.

"Load balancing, shelter, mapping, ... You've really thought this through, haven't you, Shad?" I said after reading the short, for now, list and handed it back to its owner.

"I'm trying to, but I have the feeling there is still a lot that I'm missing. But what we need to concentrate on now is getting a roof above our heads. This might be a warm and tropical area, but rain will still fall. And having shade is nice too." He said while stuffing the book away in his bag.

"Sounds like a plan. I suggest that we start on it first thing in the morning." I stated, to which Shadow agreed.

* * *

We spent the next few days working on something simple to call a home away from home until the rescue team found us and brought us back to mainland.

I can't run all the way back, even with my speed. I'm not gonna risk that with all that... water. Shadow can't Chaos Control all the way back because he can't travel that far without an emerald. So we were stuck and worked on our little home instead.

By the time it was finished, close to a month had already passed.

Shadow and I stood in front of a small cottage after putting the last finishing touches on it.

It was made of the strongest wood we found, vines and large leaves from the tall palm trees. I might've never build a house before, but it wasn't half bad, even if I do say so myself. Minecraft combined with Shadow's survival guide and knowledge really helped!

It looked sturdy, the palm leaves were hung in the front door to create a curtain door, it wasn't all that big, just spacious enough for little over two people to sleep in. The simple tools we had created to make our jobs easier, like sticks and stones to make a hammer or Shad's knife doubling as an axe with the smaller trees, were not as affective as the tools you'd buy on mainland, but they got the job done, at least.

The inside of the cottage was pretty much empty save for two thin sheets, that we found amongst the remaining rubble from the plane that washed ashore, that were covering a good few layers of the same leaves that made up the door.

Shadow breathed a deep content sigh as his arms crossed in front of his chest. As we looked at it as a whole, both of us could only be proud of the home we had made for ourselves. How many people could say they build a hut on an uninhabited island without a blueprint or the proper tools?

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I dare say it's pretty good. Never would I have ever imagined either one of us could actually build something as nice as this." Shadow said, a slight smile present on his muzzle as he was taking as much pride out of this as I was.

"Yeah, we did a great job! Even if I do say so myself." I responded, grinning at him.

I couldn't keep myself from wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Shadow didn't look up to me, but his smile widened just a tad little bit. He was content with my gesture, his heart fluttering in his chest. Knowing his feelings for me, there is no doubt in my mind that he was happy with it.

And his smile somehow made it all the more worthwhile.

* * *

We had our good days as time went on, but we had our less good ones too. And our first storm on the island was pretty much enough reason to get in a downer mood.

"Sonic, those clouds have been worrying me all day." Shadow muttered after I returned from my daily search for wood, gesturing to the sky.

My left ear twitched as I caught his words and looked up aswell.

The sky was filled with dark threatening clouds heading our way. I'm pretty sure that could only mean one thing.

A terrible storm was heading this way.

"This can't be good." I stated and quickly made my way over to Shadow.

It's been chillier today than we were used to of this place, but we hadn't really expected a storm to come.

"Come on, we're going inside. When the storm hits we'll be at least safe and dry." I said and placed a hand on Shadow's back. The hedgehog didn't argue and simply followed as I pushed him along to our cottage and entered.

As if on cue, the temperatures dropped even more and the wind started to pick up.

We both sat on our handmade beds and looked at eachother as we heard the roar of the wind growing louder and passing around our small abode.

"You okay?" I asked and Shadow nodded.

As the storm came closer and closer, we could soon hear the rain hitting the roof and the walls, the wind sounding even more furious.

The fur on my neck stood on end and my ears were drawn back. If I wasn't sitting down, I'm sure that my tail would've hidden between my legs. It showed just how nervous I was and I wasn't the only one who felt this way.

This was the first time either one of us experienced a storm this way. Without a house with strong foundations and a furiosity we weren't used to. So naturally Shadow didn't feel too comfortable either. It was getting cold too, we had no room for even a small fire inside.

And so, after much thought and hesitation, Shad crawled over to me and sat down on my bed next to me, laying his head to rest on my shoulder as his arms wrapped around my torso when it became even colder.

"It's important to conserve body heat." Shadow used as an excuse, trying to hide the embarrassment he felt aswell as the storm was really getting to him, something that he couldn't control.

I simply wrapped an arm around his shoulder and rubbed his upper arm.

It's because of Rouge that I'm not sitting here on my own now. She had send him along on what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation to give Shad the opportunity to confess to me. Well, I guess I can count this as his first move.


	4. Chapter 2-4

**The Island: Chapter 4**

 **Sonic's POV**

We were relieved when the storm was finally over and that feeling intensified when we saw that there was practically no damage done to our island. As if by miracle, our hut was just fine too. Though it shouldn't have survived, it was still here. So without much hindrance our life continued on the island.

The days after the terrible storm and his first move, Shadow and I just kept growing closer and closer. We were together 24/7. Just the two of us and no one else. We talked, we joked, I drove Shadow crazy, I got him to smile.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into another month, but by the time we hit our second month on the island, we were pretty much inseparable.

Besides the daily routine of searching wood and food, we took the time to explore and learn. I pretty much studied Shadow's survival guide from the inside out and the hedgehog taught me a few more useful tricks, whatever came to mind.

But besides the learning, the exploring and the surviving, we wanted to have some fun from time to time aswell. We did need some time to relax, we couldn't focus on our survival all the time. So we came up with some fun ways to spend our spare time. Like swimming at a lake for example.

Well, Shadow likes to swim.

The island was bigger than we thought it was. Scratch that, it was gigantic!

The beach nearly went all around the island, Shadow suspects there to be a cliff somewhere on the other side as there seemed to be a mountainous-like region too. It problaby included a volcano Shad had made a mental note about checking out if it was dormant or not.

We haven't been there yet. We've tried to do some exploring, but it was impossible to explore everything in just a mere two months. Not only was it an enormous island, but there was also a dense jungle filled to the brim with life of any kind, both dangerous and harmless.

And it was also kind of a shame to just get rid of any mystery this place had by scouting every nook and cranny, wasn't it? To keep some regions to explore tomorrow was kinda fun too.

Either way all of that life piqued the interest of the inner scientist any Robotnik apparently had, non-blood related Shadow included. I can't begin to count how many times we've sat around our campfire and caught glimpses of Shadow shooting glances at the dark jungle in the evening during dinner, visibly making a decision to go out first thing tomorrow to see just what lived and grew in there and how many undiscovered species he'd be able to find.

Something we did find, however, was a deep and wide lake with the most clearest water I have ever seen. You could see straight to the bottom, no matter how deep you went.

The surrounding area was beautiful aswell. There was a thin sandy shore around the lake, the greenest grass imaginable and a waterfall streaming down a cliff at the far side away from us.

After tending to our necessary duties, we decided to have some fun here. On Shadow's request, of course. He wanted to take a dive while fun currently meant staying at the shallow part in my swimming trunks and watching said hedgehog for me.

That seems to be my guilty pleasure of mine as of late.

Just watching Shadow and that's it.

"How deep do you think that is?" The hedgehog on my mind asked as he pulled his top over his head, revealing the soft white fluff underneath.

"I don't know and I'm not going to find out either." I answered as I seated mysef on the sand with my lower legs in the water. That was as far as I was willing to go.

The ocean was large, but the water was just as clear. This lake wasn't as large, but the water was still as clear. I've been in the ocean up to my knees, but that was for fishing and when the occasional piece of debris came washing up. I refused to go any further into the lake than I already am. Well, that was because the sandy floor suddenly dipped down somewhere not too far away.

I wanted nothing to do with that dip.

Shadow let his top fall on the shore close to me before removing his shorts and shoes to just leave his swimming trunks on his person.

I watched that hedgehog from my position on the ground, lying down with my arms crossed beneath my head, not in the least bit bothered by my own spines.

As I mentioned before, Shadow was an 'hermaphrodite', as he still liked to put it, everyone in our circle of friends knew that. It was some getting used to at first, but we all got used to it soon enough. It was normal to them, it was normal to me.

But I liked the way his body was shaped, I'll admit that. He was lean and slender, but the muscle he did have were tight and there was barely an ounce of fat on him. Except where it counted down below, of course. The booty.

Shadow's body was obviously trained, but in a way that it wouldn't exactly be obvious through his clothing.

Shadow liked it that way. It was deceptive. It amused him to see people's face when they realised just how strong he really was. I, on the other hand, just liked the way he looked.

I never considered myself gay or bi, but after spending two months of watching that bod made me never want to look away again.

I wasn't too bad myself, of course. No, scratch that, my body is awesome! I may not be as muscled as Knuckles, he is obviously stronger than me when it came to actual strength, but people did think twice about messing with me and not just for my reputation.

And not to brag, but I'm pretty sure Shadow has been giving me looks aswell.

What am I saying, of course he is! He already had feelings for me, but it's still a nice thought, though.

"Are you sure you would rather wait here instead of coming with me?" Shadow asked, adjusting his swimming trunks without a care in the world before stretching a little, not at all aware that someone was oggling him. Or maybe he just didn't mind.

"No way, you go ahead and have some fun on your own." I responded, making sure Shadow knew there was no way in hell that I was going in.

"Sonic, you do know we are on an island surrounded by water, don't you? You're going to need to learn how to swim sooner or later." Shadow told me, looking down on me with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Hey, I know how to swim, I just don't like doing it and water hates me." I muttered and closed my eyes, hoping Shad would take a hint and go swim already.

With a huff he relented and entered the water, ignoring the chilling cold of its embrace.

I opened one of my eyes a little to watch his slim figure gradually disappear into the water, scooping a handful up to soak his fur beforehand, before closing them again and enjoying the heat of the day.

If there was one place and time that I could take it slow, it was on a sunny beach in the middle of Summer.

Sometime after that, I dozed off.

* * *

I woke back up only a couple of hours later.

I yawned as I stretched my arms and back before opening my eyes, realising that the sun was already low in the sky. That had to mean it was late in the afternoon.

"Dangit, for just how long have I been asleep?" I questioned out loud while I sat upright and took the watch Shadow had left behind along with his clothes. So far the thing still worked.

It really has been a few hours now, but as I looked all around, the owner of the wristwatch was nowhere to be found.

"Shadow?" I called for him as I stood up. It was already time to get back, but I was completely on my own.

It was rather lonely.

I turned my gaze to the lake and realised that Shadow might have very well taken a dive and never made it back to the surface.

All the guy needed to live was Chaos Energy. Food and water was just an option, a second necessity, but he didn't need it to stay alive. Just healthy. That was sorta the same with air. So as long as he that energy, he could die as many times as he wanted in every possible way and he would still come back. It was a theory that we strongly believed in.

If Shadow somehow got stuck on something in the water or hit his head or something, he could've drowned and be lying on the bottom of the lake right now on this very moment, waiting for me to come get him and bring him back to the surface where he could breath.

I had to get in there. I had to go in and save him! I can't leave him down there to rot!

Water or not, my fear didn't matter if someone I cared for was in danger. I could push my fear aside, especially for this particular person.

I took a deep couple of breaths to calm myself down before reluctantly entering the body of water, approaching the sudden dip in the bottom.

I could swim. I just had to remind myself of that. Sure, it's been a while, but I could still do it. I can swim, I can dive. I can do this.

I can't run, there is no air, my movements are heavier and slower, but I could do it. I can't defend myself if I ever needed to, I wouldn't panic if something were to happen, I could do it.

Although...

"Stop it!" I growled at myself, angered.

Like a douchebag, my mind tried to scare me into staying as far away from the clear liquid as possible, but I couldn't do this to him, I couldn't leave him down there.

So I calmed myself down for as much as was possible before submerging myself.

I tried to keep my eyes open while I looked around, trying to spot an especially dark mobian somewhere on the bottom. My missing companion was nowhere to be found and so I broke the surface again.

But not before watching something disappear into an opening of some kind. It looked like a large hole in the stone wall. Did that lead to a cave or something?

I took another deep breath and dove back down again, my gaze settling on the opening, eyes squinting.

Could he really be in there?

Only one way to find out.

Suddenly two hands grabbed my shoulder and I, in my panic, broke the surface with a panicked yelp, looking around in apparent shock.

"Sonic, what're you doing?!" A familiar voice asked and I whipped around to face the owner, coming eye to eye with a pair of red rubies.

"Shadow, you're okay!" I exclaimed as I grabbed his upper arms and looked him over, trying to spot any injuries.

"Of course I am. What made you think otherwise?" Shadow asked, one eyebrow raising. He actually looked startled by my want to examine him.

"You were nowhere to be found and your clothes were still lying there. I thought you had drowned or something." I said, finishing my brief scan as there wasn't immediatly something wrong with him.

"You... frightened me." I admitted, earning a frown from the other.

"Than I must apologise. Something in the lake startled me and I hit my elbow right on that sensitive spot. I left the lake to take a closer look at it and noticed that it was bleeding quite a bit. I wanted to go back to the camp to treat it. You had dozed off so I didn't wake you up, figuring that I'd be back before you woke up." Shadow explained and pointed to his left elbow, but there was nothing to be found.

"But then I remembered my newly found healing abilities, felt like an idiot, sped my regeneration up, and warped back here only to find you in the water facedown. I wasn't even gone for five minutes. I'm sorry if I worried you." He apologised, but I could only sigh.

Shadow was just fine. There had been no reason to worry for him.

I let go of him and returned to the shore with the hedgehog right on my heels.

"So wait, you said something startled you. What was it?" I asked and turned on my heels to face him again, glad to be out of that terrifying liquid.

"Yes, I did. It was quite large and dark, I didn't get a good look at it, but it swam out of an underwater cave." He answered, kneeling in front of me.

"Eh, really? I saw something swimming into the cave." I replied, recalling the dark figure I saw.

"You saw it too? I wanted to take a closer look at it-"

"Maybe we should keep that for another time." I quickly stated, earning a look from him.

"It's getting late." I cast my gaze downward, avoiding his eyes.

Truth is, I didn't want to go back into the water and I wasn't about to let Shadow go back in on his own so soon. I didn't want him too.

So it'll have to wait for another time.

"You're right. We should probably head back and make sure our food is still there." Shadow decided to cave in and stood up, offering me a hand.

We gathered our stuff and, with a quick utter of two simple words, we returned home.

* * *

I woke up the next morning and found myself just sitting there and staring at Shadow. For once I woke up before him.

The hedgehog was still vast asleep and was lying on his front, his face turned towards me. His back was heaving gently, his face was calm, he seemed to be in a pretty deep sleep. The thin streams of sunlight seeping through the door curtain highlighted his dark fur just right and...

"Chaos, I need to get out of here." I grumbled as I got up from my cot and left our small cottage to face the morning sun.

I've been here for only two months now, close to three already, with Shadow as my sole companion. It's been a while since I've last seen another mobian. That was all.

Sure, I've already caught myself staring at his, admittedly, perky behind, but I can't actually be infatuated with him, right?

Watching him sleep in the morning is because I like how peaceful he looks doesn't count.

Although I have already admitted to myself just how much I like him on a physical level.

"Up already I see." Shadow's voice reached me and I looked over my shoulder to face him.

"Good morning." The hedgehog greeted me with a slight smile and approached me to watch the rest of the sunrise by my side.

"Morning." I returned the greeting, but unlike Shadow, didn't look back at the horizon.

"As much as I want to return home, you can't deny the beauty this place offers." He stated, smiling at the sunrise.

"Yeah, you can't." I responded, my eyes still glued at him.

I just can't deny how the way the morning light shines on him and makes him look stunning. His sleek black fur and eyes especially.

We stood there for a while, just watching the sun rise in the sky until it was nice and light out.

"I'm-" Shadow spoke up and looked back at me for a moment, only to realise that I had been staring at him for a little while now as I quickly looked away.

His gaze cast downward as he couldn't fight a slight embarrassed heat from warming up his face when knowing he had been stared at without his knowledge. And by his own crush no less.

"I'm going to get our breakfast ready." He continued and quickly left.

I watched him go for just a moment before releasing a sigh and looking back at the horizon again.

I think I have no other choice but to accept it.

I'm falling for Shadow. And I'm falling hard and fast.


	5. Chapter 2-5

**The Island: Chapter 5**

 **Sonic's POV**

But just like we had our fun days, we also had our bad days. Officially three months into our stay, this was one of those days.

"Do you think they'll ever find us?" Shadow asked, his head resting on my shoulder as we sat on the sand beneath this little makeshift roof that we had added above the front of our home.

We were just watching the rain fall and just like this weather managed to make us feel down back home, we didn't feel so good now either.

Shadow couldn't help but start to talk about something to fit our dreary mood. I have to admit it's been on my mind too.

"Well, it's been weeks already. I guess they could come any day now." I wasn't my usual positive self either as I sat next to him, one arm wrapped around his shoulder.

"A few weeks? It's been three months already, Sonic, and still no one and nothing is in sight." He told me, disgruntled.

Yeah, I guess it has been a long time now hasn't it?

"In little over half a year we'll be pronounced dead and the authorities won't be looking for us anymore. What do you think we should do then?" He asked, truthfully stumped as he really did not know how we'd go on.

"I guess we can only keep on surviving. We're not alone, we have eachother. So I'm sure we can make it out of here so long as we stay together." I tried to encourage him, but I don't think it worked as well as I had hoped.

Maybe it was because I wasn't really convinced myself.

It's probably just the bad weather messing with my head.

"I suppose we have no other choice but to stay together. But if we're going to be stuck here for much longer, I'm glad it's you I'm stuck with." He told me, his gaze looking up to settle on mine as I looked back down on him.

I guess that did make me smile, despites knowing that I pretty much had a head start over everyone else.

"I feel the same way. The part about being stuck with myself, of course." At this Shadow could only sell me a playful punch.

"You egotistical jackass." He called me and I chuckled.

"But on a more serious note, I'm glad it's you I'm stuck with too." I decided to admit, giving him my real answer this time. Shadow smiled when I told him that the appreciation was likewise.

Our mood had finally lightened up and we moved closer together to preserve our heat on this chilly, rainy day.

* * *

"What the heck, where did he go?" I muttered a couple of days later, I think it's been about a week, walking alongsides the shore that ran nearly completely around the island.

I had left our home at the beach behind me a long while ago and still there was not a single sign of him anywhere! Where could he have run off to?

Pretty much as soon as the rain stopped completely and things were a bit dryer and warmer, Shadow left stating that he wanted to look around for a bit. Since it had been my turn to hunt, I let him go on his own. Shadow can take care of himself, right?

Well, I haven't seen him for hours and I was starting to get worried.

"Shad? Where are you, Shad?" I called for him as I walked, which I have been doing for a while now. I still didn't get an answer.

What if he's hurt for real this time? What if he returned to the lake and drowned for real? Or he got attacked by that big black thing, which was the very reason why we've been avoiding the lake for weeks now.

But Shadow has been showing a big sense of curiosity pretty much for as long as we've been here. What if he did go back just to find that thing?

I didn't get to even decide to go back there when I looked off to the side a little at the rocky surfaces that started appearing on the beach instead of the usual jungle and noticed a cave.

Shadow was standing at its entrance.

Pretty much as soon as I noticed him, the hedgehog looked over his shoulder to see me standing there and waved me over.

"Sonic, get over here!" He yelled. He apparently really wanted to show me something.

With my kind of speed it took about a second to get to him, but instead of seeing the smile I was now used to see whenever he greeted me, Shadow simply turned away and pointed at something.

"Look over there. We weren't the first ones here." He told me and I followed his gaze and finger to see just what he was frowning at.

The two remains of people who died here a long time ago.

"As if the clothing wasn't already a giveway, I'd say we're looking at a man and a woman. Probably human judging by the smaller eye sockets in the skull." Shadow walked closer to the deceased pair who still sat huddled together.

They've been here for so long that only clothing and bone remained.

Call me a wuz, but I had to turn away to instead look at their belongings.

It didn't look like they had it bad in here. They had a chest with clothing in and blankets, a few personal belongings, even a water damaged painting and carpet! They looked like they had made this cave their home away from home, just like Shadow and I had made our fancy little place.

I felt a hand rest on my upper back and looked down to see a pair of ruby eyes look back in worry, silently wondering if I was okay.

"How long do you think they've been stuck here?" I asked, moving my gaze back to the belongings of the deceased. Shadow did the same.

"I have no idea, there's no telling without modern equipment or a degree for that matter. And there's no telling just what killed them either. It could be disease, injury, starvation, -" He only answered my question and elaborated a bit on the matter, but I wasn't so keen on listening.

"Shad, let's just get out of here." I cut him off, but Shadow didn't seem to mind and only followed me when I exited the cave.

I have never seen an actual dead body before, let alone two at the same time. I felt a little sick to my stomach, even if all that was left were bones.

Shadow walked by my side as we made our way back to camp, an expression of worry barely hidden, but he didn't talk.

He had a very clear idea what I was upset about and it wasn't just seeing dead people for the first time that bothered me. He wasn't sure if he should speak up about it or not, but as I didn't say a single word all the way back and entered our home, he could't help but call me back.

"Yeah?" I said, still holding the palm leaves of our door to the side as I glanced back at him.

"That's not going to happen to us." Shadow spoke up, grabbing my hand and pulling me closer, making me let go of our door curtain.

"Are you kidding me, of course not! You're immortal and I'm too awesome!" I laughed his words off, causing his frown to grow slightly deeper.

"You're not fooling anyone, Hedgehog." He said and the expression he gave me made it hard not to come clean.

I sighed. How was he doing this to me?

"Okay, so I may have worried about you ending up all alone on this island. Like if something were to happen to me and rescue won't come. I know you hate being by yourself. I don't even want to think about what could happen to you then." I came clean about what was really worrying me and Shadow could only look at me in surprise.

"You're that concerned for me?" He asked and the face he showed was something that I couldn't really place.

"Well, yeah, I like you." The words were out before I realised it, but when I did, I could only stare at him in shock like he stared back at me, speechless.

Like this a couple of awkward moments passed by.

Had I really just said that to him?

"You know what, I'm hungry. You want a bite?" I asked and felt my stomach growl right on cue before I disappeared into our home, leaving Shadow outside to wonder just what he had heard.

* * *

I don't know exactly when I had fallen asleep, but when I woke back up the next morning it was to the amazing scent of fried eggs.

With that delicious smell filling my nose, I rolled onto my back and groaned.

"Don't tell me Tails got up earlier again." I sighed in annoyence as I slowly woke up, wondering just what was so important that Tails decided to get up early today.

Dangit, I hated it when he did that. Weither he was 14 years old now or not.

"No, no Tails here. Just me." Upon hearing the voice I opened my eyes and looked towards the door to see Shadow standing there in the doorway, the door curtain of our leafy cottag pushed to the side.

He must've come to check up on me when he suddenly heard me talking to myself.

"Shad? Hey!" I greeted him as I sat up on my cot.

I don't know why I thought I was back home again, but I had to actually see my one friend around to remember what situation I've been living in these past three months and a half.

"You looked like you were dreaming. What was it about?" He asked, leaning carefully against the frame.

"I dunno, I got all distracted by this smell and forgot. Is that really fried egg?" I asked, scratching the back of my head.

"Why don't you come see for yourself?" The hedgehog asked and I was pretty much instantly up on my feet and out the door. Probably even faster than him!

My nose wasn't lying to me! Shad really was frying two eggs! and he was doing it on a hot rock above a fire!

"You are amazing, you know that?!" I told him, grabbing him by his shoulders.

After a long, long time of only fish and fruit, these eggs were Chaos sent!

"Yes, I know. Now get your ass down so I can get them off the fire." Shadow said and I let go off him so he could go down to his knees.

"Now dig in." He practically ordered me as I sat down next to him and got that hot stone he offered to me with a few layers of leaves to grab onto.

"You're not going to eat?" I asked as I took it. I was grateful, but I'd hate to eat it alone if he hadn't had anything yet.

"I did actually, but not eggs. These were the first two that I found here. And if you're wondering, no, they weren't fertilized. They came from a nest of three and only one had a bird inside, I checked." Shadow told me, clicking his flashlight on and off.

Oh yeah, Shadow had also nabbed a flashlight along before he left just in case and we've been trying to save the batteries, using them only for emergencies. Like when our fire dies at night and that's when we need it burning constantly. Not for warmth, but to ward off any predators.

We have been lucky enough to avoid them so far and we'd like to keep it that way.

"So you left this luxurious food for me? What's the occasion? My birthday?" I asked, one eyebrow raised. It wasn't June yet, right?

"It's just... Nevermind, it'll sound dumb." Shadow brushed my question off, but I was curious.

"No, come on, tell me." I insisted as I started on the fried eggs using Shadow's knife, which he would sterilise later on, eager to hear the occasion.

Shadow looked at me thoughtfully, a slight frown appeared on his muzzle. He seemed to contemplate if he should really tell me or not.

"You said you liked me." He decided to come clean.

I looked at him in confusion for a moment before I realised that I really did say that to him just yesterday and I hadn't taken it back.

"You don't have to say anything and I don't expect anything either. It just felt good to hear you say that and I wanted to show my appreciation." He said and looked away as if he felt embarrassed.

Well, I guess the gesture was a bit cheesy.

I stopped eating for a second and wrapped an arm around the hedgehog's shoulder in order to pull him closer. Shadow didn't move away and instead gladly scooted closer, sighing lightly in content.

I haven't realised it before, but ever since he pulled his first move two months ago during our first storm, he's become a lot more open about his feelings. He's pretty much splaying them out for the whole population of two to see.

That's good, I'm happy for him. For a long time it has looked like he was emotionally constipated. To see him so open with his feelings, in his own way, was a good thing to see.

But my own feelings... I haven't really figured that out yet.

"Sonic, let's go exploring later." Shadow told me and unlike last time when he found that cave, I was actually looking forward to it.


	6. Chapter 2-6

_**WickedHumor:** Well, crap. That is a plothole I totally missed! Thank you for noticing that!_

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 6**

 **Sonic's POV**

We were so deep in the jungle now. I mean, geez, I know Shadow said he wanted to go exploring but last time he was content with just staying relatively close to the beach.

Now we were so far into the jungle that it was even hard to walk through. And we didn't exactly have a machete with us. Just Shadow's army knife that was kind of pathetic in this kind of situation.

It was useful and all, but with all these vines, thick branches, and whatever to fight our way through, that knife couldn't really help us much. Or at all.

"Don't diss the knife, Hedgehog!" Shadow hissed as I spoke those words out loud and found him nonchalantly pointing the thing towards me to remind me of exactly how sharp he's been keeping that thing.

Geez, talk about sensitive.

"Let me guess, it's not the size that matters?" I asked and couldn't fight the teasing grin from appearing.

"Exactly! And obviously my tool is bigger than yours." Shadow quickly caught on and retorted as he looked at me from over his shoulder briefly.

He kind of looked like he was flaunting his body with the way he looked back at me like that, just over his shoulder while he stepping on and over this big rock. And I'm not entirely sure he was aware of that.

Or was I just seeing it that way?

"Oh, really? Want me to show you exactly how big I can be?" I quickly caught up to him, pretty much inches behind him, our bodies nearly touching.

"I certainly wouldn't mind! If you dare, that is!" Shadow spoke and then we could only stare at eachother as we realised where this conversation had quickly lead us to.

Suddenly embarrassed, Shadow walked up ahead in a faster pace, as if trying to outrun the situation. I couldn't help but share some of that feeling.

It was rare to see that hedgehog feel so awkward and he stubbornly tried to stay ahead of me and avoid the embarrassing situation we had unwittingly created. Innuendoes affected him more than I would've thought. It was kind of funny and I will definitely keep that in the back of my mind.

"Shad, wait up. I can't exactly speed up to you without getting caught in these vines." I chuckled inwardly, liking all of these new sides I was seeing to Shadow since getting here.

An embarrassed side, a caring and almost nurturing side, a flirty side... I'm kinda excited to know what else I'm gonna find out about him.

When he suddenly came to a halt up ahead again and seemed to be looking at something, I quickly caught up to him, making sure I didn't trip like an idiot over a root again like I did a couple of days ago and give Shadow enough reason to taunt me endlessly.

I stood behind him and looked at what must've caught his attention, something that was admittedly easy because of Shadz's short size. I was curious to know just what surprised him.

My gaze fell on it and I noticed that it was a cave in the side of a cliff that he was looking at, a pretty dark and big one at that.

As one of my hands landed on Shad's shoulder, the hedgehog looked up to me for a moment before looking back up ahead.

"Do you want to check it out?" He asked, that glint of curiosity that I've grown so used to seeing present once more in his ruby eyes.

Well, can't say no to that, can I?

"Sure." I agreed and in an instant Shadow was off again, heading towards the cave entrance.

Of course, I quickly followed and as the vines cleared a little, it was easier to join him by his side as he paused for another moment. Noticing him fumbling with a flashlight still in working condition hanging from his belt, I knew the question burning his mind.

"Want to go inside and use what little battery we have left?" I asked, knowing it was on his mind too. But just like I knew that question, we also both knew the answer.

Letting go of the flashlight, he turned to grab a fallen branch instead and ripped out some long dried grass to wrap it around one end.

"No, we might need those batteries for something else." Shadow responded and went to his knees to quickly create a spark with a half-formed Chaos Spear for a makeshift torch.

With that fire now illuminating us both, we entered the cave. We weren't sure what we were going to find in there, probably nothing new, but still we were kinda curious to find out.

The cave entrance was only just out of sight when we came upon a parting in the long corridor we had been walking through and suddenly we were forced to make a choice if we wanted to keep on exploring.

"You know, if we take this date to a less dank place, I could totally check one path out for you." I spoke up, nudging Shadow with my elbow.

From hearing the word 'date', I could hear a huff leave his lips and his gaze get cast downwards for a moment, apparently liking the statement.

"Be my guest. You can choose where we'll go next." He told me, turning to face me and hand me the torch. He didn't mind spending some time in darkness for those couple of seconds it would take for me to explore this entire cave system.

"It's a deal!" I grabbed the torch from him and off I was, leaving Shad in the shadows.

As I ran, I was careful to make sure my light wouldn't go out as I explored the rest of this cave for him.

There wasn't all that much else to this place. There was some moss, some insects and spiders that I'm sure Shadow would love with his fear for any creepy crawleys! You couldn't find them onboard the Ark with their strict health protocols. So during his childhood insects and spiders of any kind were but nightmare fuel in whatever horror movie Maria managed to watch with him behind her grandfather's back.

There was some water dripping down the ceiling too, which I think Shadow told me was from either a river flowing above us, a lake, or just rain. That's what Shad told me, that is.

Before long this hallway came to an end and I came upon what looked like a big room with stalagmites and stalactites. A little bit further the floor suddenly slanted downwards and water filled that space. Moving the torch, I noticed that the light reflected on water up ahead and noticed that there was some of it streaming down from the cracks through the cave wall.

The pond of water also reflected the light, but somehow that just emphasized the sheer darkness down there and I felt my heart pounding in my chest from just looking at the body of water.

Maybe it's time I turn around and tell Shadow that there's nothing interesting here. Otherwise, knowing him, he'd want to dive right in weither he has light in there or not. And I'm not up for a second heart attack!

So I turned around to run all the way back to the other hedgehog, but as I did so, a muffled noise that sounded almost like an explosion came out of nowhere and the whole cave system suddenly rumbled all around me and for a frightful moment I was scared that it might come collapsing down on top me.

For a moment did I think my friend might end up stranded all alone anyway.

But that small blast... Was that Shadow?

I don't know why I felt panic grip my heart in an icy hold. Much like I thought I had lost him at that lake, or the thought of him staying behind all alone on this island, believing something must've happened to him just now made this feeling well up in my chest that I wasn't at all used to.

In hurry did I speed back to where I knew him to be, risking losing the torch in the process. As if by miracle I didn't lose my light and found Shadow there waiting for me.

"Shad, there you are! What was that blast all about?" I asked as I thought he was okay at first, a sigh of relief even left my lungs, but then I noticed he was hunching over, holding a hand to his abdomen.

He was seeking support with the nearby wall and didn't answer to my question. It sounded like he was breathing a bit heavily, like he was in pain and that worried me.

"Shad? Talk to me, what's wrong?" I asked, walking closer and laying a hand on his shoulder. It caused him to draw away from me, something I wasn't used to get from him these past three months.

Why was he suddenly shrugging my worry away?


	7. Chapter 2-7

_And with this chapter you guys will have officially caught up. The next time a new chapter will be uploaded here is when I have posted the full chapter 3 on Inkbunny, after which I will once again divide it into three or four chapters to publish here._

 _One question: Should I post this story on DA aswell?_

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 7**

 **Sonic's POV**

"Shadow-"

"I'm fine. Just ran into some trouble, but I'm fine." He cut me off, gasping when he tried to face me.

Okay, I wanted to know just what the heck was up with him.

So grabbing his shoulder, I turned him around to face me and noticed a dark splotch of red on his grey t-shirt.

"You're bleeding?!" Dropping the torch, I pulled his hand away and pulled his shirt up to look at the damage.

"Sonic, wait, don't-" I didn't let him stop me.

Shadow's fur, because of how dark it was, never showed any bruising, but this one was so big and dark that it was even visible through his colour of pelt in this dim light of fire. Whatever had hit him there, it hit him hard enough to cause such a painful discolouration and even broke the skin, which is where that small spot of blood came from.

"Shadow, What-"

"Stop getting so worried! Sonic, I'm the Ultimate Lifeform and no uninhabited island is going to change that! I don't know why you're getting so worked up every time you think something's wrong with me, but stop it." He scolded me, pulling his shirt down and taking a good step away from me.

Just what was he saying? That I had to stop worrying?

"I was just in the process of healing myself. You know it takes a lot of Chaos energy out of me that I can't replenish so easily without an emerald. That's why I couldn't immediately answer. Sonic, I'm fine." Shadow spelled it out for me, felt like he had to.

"Why would you feel so worried about me that you'd blatantly ignore what you're already supposed to know for years already?" He asked, genuinely curious.

That's a good question, actually. Why would I feel so much concern when I'm supposed to know better?

Is it because of those feelings I've been having lately? Those that I don't really want to confront?

"Eh, no reason." I claimed instead of giving him a good answer, shrugging too casually.

Shadow was smart, too smart, for my own good and he used those brain cells to easily figure out what was bothering me after the talk we had not long ago. But for my sake, he played along.

"Well, if you must know, we weren't alone in here. I heard some noise in the dark and when I summoned a Chaos Spear to light my surroundings for a moment, I came face to face with an enormous boar. It got startled and ran right into me on its way out." He came clean about the situation that got him that injury, feeling slightly embarrassed about being the Ultimate Lifeform who got his ass handed to him by a wild animal.

So a boar was the one that did this? Just a boar?

"Than what was that explosion I heard?" I asked as that wasn't something Shadow had explained to me.

"Well... I didn't just startle the boar, but it also startled me. So when I held that Chaos Spear and saw the thing..." He had been a little hesitant to answer, but even more reluctant to finish and I could see why.

I snorted in amusement at the thought, although that could've also been caused by my adrenaline fading away.

Shadow seemed to forget his embarrassment and smiled ever so slightly now that the mood was a little lighter again.

"Sonic." He started, grabbing my hand. Shad was somehow being a little tender upon discovering just how much I apparently care and worry for him. It was having quite an affect on him.

"How about we return home? Or to our home away from home." He suggested and for once I couldn't agree more to put this exploration excursion on hold.

We could resume it once Shadow has fully healed.

Preferably not, though. Healed or not, I don't want to follow him into that dark, deep, and threatening underground lake. No way!

Keeping a tight grip on my hand, Shadow Chaos controlled us back to our camp.

* * *

Eventually the sun started setting and my dark companion cooked up some more fish for us to eat for dinner, but he didn't just bake it above a fire like he usually would. He's been getting a bit creative lately and was making a soup from some of the safest ingredients we could find from the explored parts of our island.

I can't say I was ever really fond of soup, I prefered the more spicy kinds of food, but I don't think I've longed for this recepy this much before today. It's been five months of nothing but fish and fruit, so if this liquid wasn't just as valuable and gold right now, than I didn't know what was.

A light sigh left Shadow, but it wasn't out of annoyence. The hedgehog noticed how I had been watching him prepare the meal expectantly, eager to have a taste already. It sounded like he was amused, something that he's been feeling a lot lately despites the circumstances.

"Don't worry, I think it's about done." He answered before I even got to ask him the question. Because of it, a smile couldn't help but tug the corners of my lips upwards.

"Awesome, I'm starving!" As if on cue with my words, I heard my stomach growl from hunger, which earned myself a soft chuckle from the other.

It was a light metal and deep bowl that Shadow was making the soup in. It was found amongst the stuff of the skeletal couple we had found a little while back.

Grave robbing wasn't exactly our favourite way of passing our free-time, here or on Mainland, but all the stuff was just lying there and Shadow believed it was a good idea to use any and all materials at our disposal. It'd be a shame to let all of that stuff just lie there and rot away otherwise.

Using a clean handkerchief he had found in our salvaged stuff, he protected his hands as he grabbed the bowl with hurry and got it off the fire, muttering something about trying to find a way to make this easier to handle.

"Just a question, but how exactly are we going to eat this?" I asked, clueless as I don't really know if we had spoons or not. Unless Shadow found silverware when I wasn't looking. That'd be nice if he did.

"Well..." His voice trailed off before he even started a proper sentence and he suddenly pulled out two bowls made out of... coconut halves? Really?

"I've been working on these for little over a week now, but turns out carving isn't quite my strong suit. With hands that usually destroy, it's apparently difficult to create." He said almost dismissively, like he didn't want to talk about the process that lead to these two.

As he filled in one bowl with the soup to hand over to me, something clicked in place in my mind and with a laugh I spoke up.

"So that's why you've been feeding me coconut all week!" All of a sudden that finally made sense.

Now knowing that I would be talking about it anyway, Shadow let out a deep sigh. This time, it was out of annoyence.

"Yes, I've been working on a few sideprojects while you were either out collecting wood, hunting, or sleeping. For the Fastest Thing Alive you're quite slow and that gave me enough time to work on them." He explained, handing over my meal for tonight.

"And fail at them too?" Letting that comment slide for now, I teased him back with a knowing look.

He huffed.

"I'm not going to answer that and I certainly won't refer to the disturbing pile of coconut shells lying somewhere hidden in a ditch behind our hut." Though feeling embarrassed with his failed attempts at crafting, he still managed to slip a joke in.

I just might be rubbing off on him.

Another laugh broke out and Shadow shot me a small smile as he poured some soup out for himself too.

"Made any attempts at spoons too?" I asked and this time he had to shake his head.

"I'm just happy to have finally finished these coconut bowls." He told me in what could only be described in a defeated kind of way.

A final chuckle left my vocals before I turned my attention to my meal. Or that's what I wanted to before I realised that it's probably a bit too hot right now. I mean, it did just get off the fire.

But I didn't strike up another conversation, though I was never the type of guy to stay silent for longer than a minute unless I was asleep. Instead I found myself thinking about these feelings I've been having, driven even further when my gaze met Shadow and the smile he was wearing.

It was small, just enough to be visible on his muzzle, one only spotted by someone who knew him as well as I did, as he sat there on his knees with his own bowl resting in his lap. Just like me, he was waiting for the soup to cool down a little. Meanwhile a hand came to rest where that ugly bruise and that small blotch of blood was.

Though the wound is still there, I'm sure it's already healed considerably since we left that cave. By tomorrow, unless Shad decides to use his new healing powers, not a trace should be left of that wild boar he nearly roasted.

Pain was obviously not on his mind, it'd be a bit weird if that was what he was smiling about, so what was?

And just why was I so curious?

I knew I liked Shadow, that was something I just could not ignore anymore, but maybe there was more going on than I realised?

"Sonic."

His voice coming out of nowhere caught me off guard as I stared at the fire in front of me. Startled, I quickly looked to my side to find Shadow sitting right next to me all of a sudden, wearing an expression I couldn't really read.

"Shadow-"

"Hedgehog, I was never really sure when I should be telling you this. I wasn't even sure if I would ever tell you this. But to see you so concerned for my well being lately, to see you care so much, I find myself unable to keep this a secret for much longer." What is Shadow trying to say? Is this it? Is this the moment Rouge and I have been waiting for?

I was prepared for it. Well, I used to be. But now?

Why is my heart suddenly beating faster in my chest? I can feel the organ pounding inside just listening to his words.

I knew I liked him. That's what the unbearable thought of him spending his life all alone on this island made me realise. But these past couple of months spend with solely him just might've made me feel a bit more than just 'like' for him.

Somehow, that was making this moment a lot more difficult than it needed to be.

"Sonic, I..." His voice trailed off then, like he suddenly lost his nerve and decided against coming clean.

Shad, why'd you suddenly stop?

Apparently I wasn't ready anymore, not now that I realised I actually felt something more than just friendship for him, but I didn't want him to stop either.

"Thank you for caring." Shadow drew away, shuffling to sit a little farther away from me, a full bowl of soup still in hand.

Is he chickening out? Is that even a word he was familiar with?

The defeated look in his eyes he tried to hide spoke volumes. Now that we knew eachother so well, putting up a mask and hiding what he felt suddenly wasn't possible anymore, though he tried.

"Uh, sure. That's what friends are for, right?"

He winced almost unnoticeably, but said nothing else. Shad didn't touch his own homemade soup either.

Turns out Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform himself, didn't have the guts to confess his true feelings.

Turns out I didn't either.


	8. Chapter 3-8

_Oh look! I finished chapter 3! That means I can update it here too! :D_

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 8**

 **Sonic's POV**

Awkward.

If I were to describe the relationship between Shadow and I right now in just one word, I'd call it awkward. There really was no other way to describe it.

"So... Good morning!" I'd greet him every morning time and again as I found that ebony hedgehog thigh-deep in the ocean, as stiff as a board and a makeshift spear in hand, hunting for our next meal.

"Good morning." He'd reply just a bit too quickly to be natural, like he's been rehearsing this all morning in preparation for this greeting. Not once did he take his gaze off of the clear ocean.

It was unnatural as heck, but it's what most of our mornings this week had been like.

Awkward, quiet, and sometimes with a forced smile. That is pretty much what our conversations were like. And I could think of a few reasons why we were being like this.

Shadow obviously stopping mid-confession for one, me giving a less then stellar response really didn't help either, and then followed the silent mutual agreement to avoid eachother as much as humanly possible.

This lousy confession was driving us back apart, but neither one of us was actually doing something about it.

Who knew working yourself past something like this could be so difficult?

I've had several people confess to me so many times before. From Amy to complete strangers, I always handled it as delicately as I could. So why was it so hard for me to deal with it this time? Especially when I liked the person confessing to me?!

Or maybe that's exactly it? Maybe it's because I return some of those feelings it suddenly became so much harder to deal with it?

I don't know. I just don't.

What I do know is what needs to be done. And that's where my lack of handling this situation comes in again and I realise I'm stuck in a loop.

A very annoying and unnecessary loop and it was all my fault.

Turns out I'm not always the hero everyone thought I was.

"So what's planned for today?" I asked, trying to start a conversation and not disturb the fish getting used to Shadow's presence.

"Nothing much actually. We have enough firewood and I'm taking care of food, so there's really not much to do today." Shadow responded not all that loud, glancing at me from the corners of his eyes for a moment.

Turning his attention back to the water in front of him, the spear he held suddenly shot forward and impaled a fish right through its side.

He's getting kinda like a pro in this. Deciding that Chaos Spears were far too messy and caused far too many casualties than necessary, this kind of accurate hunting was a skill he was now honing and he was doing it fast. It was honestly impressive.

But this time he had caught a small one, just enough for only one of us. So he'd still be here a while to catch another fish.

"'Kay, I guess I could, huh... Check if our shack is still bug-free?" I suggested in the most awkward way I have ever heard myself speak.

Still, I was genuine with my suggested, but somehow Shadow took it the wrong way.

As an annoyed sigh was released, I suddenly wondered what I had done wrong while also being reminded that Shadow has been reverting back to his old self. As in getting easily annoyed, being a general grump, and distancing himself from everyone. And by everyone I meant me as the population of this place was two.

But out of all of them, there were only two things I could handle out of those three and it wasn't the last one.

"Shad?"

"There could be numerous venomous insects and arachnids in this place. Many of which we might not know and don't have an antidote for. So instead of laughing it off and making fun of my correct fear for these tiny monsters-" Losing that stiff posture he's been perfecting the last couple of weeks, he whipped around to face me and sorta yelled before I cut him off.

"Whoa, whoa, hey! I'm not making fun of you! Where did that even come from?!" I couldn't help but ask in shock, putting my hands up in defense and wondering just how the heck he could ever think that I'd do such a thing.

"Then don't make it sound so condescending and do it or just don't do it at all!" I quickly realized that this was an actual fight and it was continuing, though thankfully no actual punches were thrown this time, and I am honestly confused.

"Okay, fine, I'll do it!" I decided to agree, figuring that it might get this over with before things got a little too serious.

"Or you know what? Just don't do it, I'll do it myself later." Turning back around to concentrate on the fish again, though they were long gone now, Shadow had apparently ended this conversation as soon as it started and I'm still standing here and wondering just what that was all about.

Sighing internally and placing my hands on my hips, I calmed down because letting my anger get the better of me really wasn't such a good idea right now.

I wanted to know just what was his problem.

"Shad, what was that all about?" I asked and watched him lose that stance again, figuring that he should probably answer. He didn't look back at me yet, though.

"What do you mean?" Shad responded to my question with another question, even though he knew exactly what I was talking about.

I'm just glad I didn't have a temper. Otherwise things might've gone a bit ugly.

"Don't play dumb with me, Shadow." I said, indirectly demanding that he tell me the truth already.

He shook his head, refusing the unspoken order.

"I'm sorry. It was uncalled for and I should know better. I suppose I'm suffering from homesickness and that must be playing tricks on my mood." The darker hedgehog apologized as he had turned back around to look me in the eye again, figuring he at least owed me that much.

I decided to accept it for now as he had been getting upset so easily lately, though not exactly this hostile before, but I knew something else was going on too.

"I get it. Missing home sucks." I lowered my arms back at my side and Shadow visibly relaxed, glad to be left alone now. He didn't focus back on job yet, though.

"Actually, there is something you can help me with." Shad stated, finally a bit more friendly.

Holding the spear in both hands with the fish still impaled on one end, he left the ocean and walked to a pretty large empty place on the beach, where I followed him to. There was very little debris from the ocean like shells or seaweed, little to no plant life, it was pretty empty.

It was here that Shadow came to a stop and looked back at me.

"We need a signal. It's been three months already and we can't just wait around and hope rescue to accidentally stumble up on us someday." He said and I could see where he was gonna go with this.

"You wanna try get someone's attention? Got a plan?" I asked, glancing at the horizon as if help could miraculously appear in the distance by just talking about it.

"Exactly. I was thinking of using the surrounding stones to spell out S.O.S on the beach for helicopters to see or start a fire large enough to draw the attention of anyone passing by. If any rescue is searching this area or if there are any ships sailing nearby, they should see it and come for us." Shad replied and I think he was gonna go for the latter.

We were definitely bound to get someone's attention this way!

"Great! I'll start gathering as much dry wood as I can find!" I don't think I've ever been this excited to start a fire before! This must be the way pyromaniacs feel!

"Meanwhile I'll somehow divide this fish for the two of us. I don't think I'll get another opportunity to hunt today." Shadow was clearly disappointed with the missed chance and I don't blame him. It wasn't like there was a supermarket left of the nearest palm tree to get a nice meal for two at.

"Sounds like a plan!" I responded and got to work.

Looks like we finally have a plan that just might work.


	9. Chapter 3-9

_The only time a slight case of pyromania was a good thing!_

 _And so they decide to have a little conversation about what happened that evening._

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 9**

 **Sonic's POV**

That was pretty much the way our morning was spend. I gathered the driest wood I could find and meanwhile Shadow prepared our breakfast. We ate that one small fish he managed to catch with some fruit on the straightest twigs he could strip and use as a skewer, and afterwards I continued with my earlier task while Shadow helped out now that he didn't really have anything else to do.

We searched the beach, took our quest to the forest, we picked up all the dry and fallen branches, twigs, and leaves we could find. And with as much as our arms could carry did we always return to the same spot Shad had chosen and threw our load on one big pile before returning.

The rest of the day was spend searching and collecting. We had some homemade lunch and dinner along the way, took a couple of breaks, finally checked our hut for bugs and spiders without arguing about it this time, and by the time the sun had finally started setting, Shadow figured our pile of wood was big enough.

Well, it towered over both of us and any more wood we could only add by throwing it up on top came tumbling back down, so it would have to do.

Using his Chaos abilities, Shadow set fire to a torch and hoped to use it to light up the pile. We were counting on the wind to help us along by stoking it up.

Thankfully, it did help to get it going and it spread all throughout the pile pretty quickly. Before we knew it we had one large fire going. It was hot, it was massive, it was shockingly loud, it was a safe distance away from our hut and the jungle, and it was surprisingly incredible to see!

"If this doesn't attract any attention, than I don't know what will." Shadow stated and threw the torch into the pile aswell, proud that we managed to get this done and so was I.

"Yeah, if anyone at all passes through here, than they're bound to see this. There's no way anyone can miss this!" I responded, grinning at a job well done. I was more than confident this was gonna work. Once it reaches its full potential, every ship and chopper was gonna see that smoke for miles!

"And now all we need to do is wait." Shadow stated, rubbing his hands clean of filth as he turned his back on the pile of fire and walked a little ways away from it before he sat down on the sand to enjoy this feeling of accomplishment and the sunset.

I decided to follow him before soon taking a seat next to him, crossing my legs and leaning back on my hands. Shadow was sort off sitting in the same position, though with a more straighter back as he just took more care of his spine than I did, which was pretty much the dumbest thing I could do.

But that wasn't important right now. What was more important to pay attention to now was that thoughtful look present on his face. It made me wonder just what was passing through his mind right now.

Breaking the silence might help me get to the bottom of whatever he was thinking of.

"We should make fires more frequently. Our pyromania brought us back together!" I stated, which got a slight smile to appear on his muzzle and he nodded, but then Shadow quickly frowned again.

"Sonic, listen... Sorry for snapping so much lately. It's just..." With a sigh Shadow failed at finishing that sentence.

"Yeah?" I urged him to continue, an eyebrow of mine raising.

He looked at me, kinda sadly so, but then gazed back at the horizon of shades of blue and orange and I was quickly reminded of the first time I had to admit to myself that I was falling for him too.

That caused me to look away from him again, though I did take the occasional glance.

"You should tell me what's on your mind. I actually hate how everything's become so awkward between us." I stated as I wasn't willing to let this conversation drop.

If Shad has something to say, he better say it.

"No, I don't want to argue anymore." Shadow shook his head, but I wasn't gonna let this rest.

"Hey, no! Shadow, just tell me." While leaning forward with my elbows on my knees as I responded.

When the darker hedgehog didn't answer, I decided to keep talking.

"That wasn't the first time you've snapped at me either. Before I was apparently making you out for a wuss just because you're wary of the bugs on this island, you were getting annoyed whenever I tried to help out with something." I added, which helped bring a look of thought on his face.

"It sounds kinda dumb, but it almost sound like you're trying to hate me. I'm not blind, Shad. And it's just the two of us here, we gotta have eachother's back." I finished and hoped my fellow stranded companions would finally tell me what's up and make life on this uninhabited and possibly unknown island more bearable again.

Yeah, I wasn't being my usual goodie-two-shoes myself either as I did my fair share of avoiding aswell, but I had never actually gotten angry at him before.

Another deep sigh left the other. I just hope that means he finally got something to say.

"It's just hard for me to understand what happened that evening." He started and I could already tell he had a lot to get off his chest.

"You admitted out loud that you liked me, or I thought you had. And lately you've been getting so worried so easily and for no apparant reason too. It made me believe we had this connection I was looking for, this spark Rouge told me about shortly before I left. So I suppose I was disappointed when that turned out to be false." Finally coming clean about the way he's been feeling this past week, it's making me feel kinda bad about it aswell.

"No, disappointment isn't the word for it, more like confused. Maybe it's because I don't know people as well as you do, but I couldn't figure out why that evening went wrong as you seemed to know exactly where I was going. That, in turn, made me foolishly think that somehow believing you were playing me all along would make it easier for me to understand." Now that I'm hearing all of this it sorta made sense now.

Well, it made sense if you knew Shadow.

I didn't know what to answer now as I processed all of this new information.

Obviously I hurt him with my 'that's what friends are for' comment from last week, though that was definitely not my intention. I should make this right, of course. The thought of Shadow actively trying to believe I was playing him for an idiot this whole time just because he didn't understand made me feel guilty for the way I reacted back then.

Still... I don't think I'm ready myself. All this time I thought I was gonna be ready for it, that I was gonna handle his confession just fine, but now I had to figure it all out too. But I still should've just handled it better instead of giving him that half-assed reply.

There was one thing I could tell him, though.

"Shadow, you shouldn't ever think that I'm playing with you or making fun of you 'cause I'm not. My dumb mouth might not always say what I should be saying, but just know that I do care. Like a lot. It's just..." I wanted to reassure him, tell him that he was just seeing ghosts and that I do care, but now I found myself unable to finish that sentence.

"Hard to figure it all out? I know it was for me when I first realised I felt something. You'd think the other person knowing would make it all the easier, but..."

"It's totally not."

While Shadow smiled in agreement and I just chuckled, we knew things were good between us again and now that botched confession didn't matter as much anymore.

Man, why is this so hard in the first place? Why are we making it so hard?! I used to be stable and mentally and emotionally sound. Now my mind and heart were doing all sorts of weird things and they were making me do weird things because of it. I didn't understand any of this.

Heck, Shadow wasn't even the first mobian I've dated. So why was this suddenly so hard? Because of the time that passed? Because Shad's a good friend of mine? Because we're all alone on an island with no one to stop us and all the privacy and time a newly blooming couple could ask for?!

That last thought made my cheeks heat up in embarrassment just thinking about it and they were the kinda thoughts that never filled my head before. Well, when it concerned Shadow, that is. Oh man, the imagery!

"Uh..." Glancing back at Shadow I found him staring at me with an eyeridge raised and his mouth slightly agape, giving a typical look of confusion.

"you're blushing... Are you having a fever?" He asked, though he was unsure.

"Nah, I'm fine. Just forget about it." I was quick to shrug it away.

This time Shadow decided to let it go too, probably figuring that'd be the safest option to take.

Continuing to watch as the sun set slowly at the horizon, we could end this day with eased hearts now knowing that everything was finally resolved and we could go on with our lives on this now inhabited island.

Once I figure out what exactly I'm feeling for Shadow, weither it's just a close friendship or something more, I'll be able to give him an answer someday. All I need is some time to think.


	10. Chapter 3-10

_Oh look! The Island has a name now! :D_

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 10**

 **Sonic's POV**

"Hedgehog Island!"

Upon suddenly blurting out something as random as this, Shadow looked up with a deeply agitated look from his attempts at keeping the fire going, which has been dying for hours already.

Still holding the torch in his right hand, the dark hedgehog turned his head to look back at me, not entirely sure he had heard me right as his face almost seemed to say 'excuse me?'.

"Well, we gotta name this place something, right? And we're literally the only mobians here! Two hedgehogs! So 'Hedgehog Island'!" I explained my train of thought behind the name I decided to give the island, but Shadow wasn't really sold on this amazing idea apparently.

"I suppose we should call it something..." He responded in an uncertain way instead of just agreeing like he should be doing.

"What do you mean? It's great and it fits!" I replied, but Shad simply moved his attention back to the fire again and tried to keep it alive.

"Glad you agree." I muttered underneath my breath before I gazed back at the horizon again.

It was in the afternoon now in our fourth month on the affectionately called 'Hedgehog island' and we've been succesfully keeping the fire going for the past two weeks now.

Well, successfully until today.

Glancing back at the fire briefly I noticed that it was living on its dying embers as most of the wood we had been feeding it were ash now. Shadow has been fighting to keep it going, but we had a minor rainfall last night and because of that all the wood was wet. Wet and therefore useless.

Growing frustrated, Shadow just barely stopped himself from throwing a Chaos Spear and possibly spreading the wood and ash everywhere.

So I moved my eyes to look back at the clear blue water of the ocean, not really feeling like it was a good idea to approach the angry Ultimate Lifeform as he stood there cursing and threatening a wet pile of wood and its apparent mother.

I should probably only get involved until he's calmed down a little.

Yeah, that would be the safest thing to do.

Speaking of our victory fire, however, things were not working out as good as we hoped. We've been keeping it going for the past two weeks with fresh dry wood until the rain inevitably fell, but so far absolutely no one has come for us.

We've seen no ships, heard no choppers. We didn't even hear the occasional airplane we used to hear back home. Besides the lovely sounds of nature, it was generally quiet.

Out of all the daily things in life, music was what I missed the most.

Yeah, I had music on my phone in my luggage, but that thing died as soon as it drowned in the ocean after the plane crashed.

And that brings me to the only reason that I know which date it is today, which is due to Shadow's surprisingly reliable memory. You'd think a guy who suffered from amnesia before would have some trouble remembering, but nope. It's because of him that I know it's been four whole months already.

Since I left early June, that meant it had to be about September now.

It's been so long.

Giving up on the fire for now, Shadow sighed and threw the torch down into the still somewhat soggy sand. Frustrated, he ran a hand through his quills. He so desperately wanted to keep it alight in case help still happened to pass our island by, which has not been happening for two weeks straight already.

Maybe it's time we give it a break?

"We'll get it going again later when the wood's dry, don't worry." I told him, shooting him a smile as I placed a hand on his shoulder to pull him away from his current source of anger.

"Sonic, we have to-"

"Yeah, yeah, but we'll get to it later. Can't light up wet wood, can we? You're supposed to be the smart one out of the two of us!" I keeping a strong grip with an arm now around his shoulder, I pulled him back to our hut and Shadow obediently followed, sighing deeply as he really did not want to abandon it for a moment.

But at least he wasn't so stubborn and tried to fight a losing battle.

"I just really thought it was going to work. You saw the massive smoke signal it send to the sky! How could nobody have seen it?!" Shadow's been getting worked up over that too, he was just because more audible about it than I was.

We did count on our signal to work. We had a lot of hope set on it. With no way of getting out of here ourselves, rescue was our only way off this island, but already it didn't look like that was gonna work either.

All we could do was keep the fire going and hope someone might stumle up on it someday.

"Yeah, we both did, but it probably just needs more time. In the meanwhile, how about we get back to scouting Hedgehog Island? If we're gonna own it, we might aswell know it, right?" I suggested and watched Shadow bend over and grab the half of the melon he had been trying to eat for his brunch.

With the rainfall we had slept in for once and when it stopped near lunch, Shad had cut a melon in half for us to share. We were pretty much starving now that we missed breakfast.

It was while trying to enjoy his meal that he suddenly noticed the smell of smoke was missing and looked over to see our mighty pyre dying. Dropping the melon, he went sprinting over and I only followed when my own brunch was finished.

Now it's been at least an hour of Shadow trying in vain to light it back up and his meal was now covered in bugs.

"Filthy insects." The insult left him and he quickly threw the piece of fruit away, right back into the jungle it had come from.

"Wow, that was an awesome throw! You were wasted at G.U.N, you should've totally joined a baseball team or something!" Once again I tried to lighten the mood, which was an attempt that didn't go as well as I would've liked.

Shad was still pissed off. At the fire, at the weather, at the bugs, at my constant attempts at keeping things happy and cheerful.

"Listen, Shad, I can't say this enough. That wood will dry, we'll find other food, and though it rained, it's gonna be another hot day just like every day before it! So don't be such a grump about it and enjoy having your own private island!" Not wanting to see him so down, I tried to cheer him up again.

Shadow turned around to face me, his arms still crossed in front of his chest.

"I suppose it's true. I just wish things didn't always have to be so difficult." He admitted and isn't that what we all think sometimes?

"Yeah, it sucks, but nothing that's worth it comes easy, right? Neither will our rescue." Offering him a remaining piece of my half that I had been keeping at hand just in case.

"I suppose that's true." The darker hedgehog replied, taking the fruit from me with a slight smile etched on his lips. That way he had at least something to eat, not that the Ultimate Lifeform would be all that bothered by something as puny as hunger.

But he was coming around again, something that I liked to see.

"You know what we are supposed to do now, right? We leave for the jungle and enjoy our very own private Hedgehog Island." I suggested, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

With huff Shadow shook my arm away and looked up to me.

"Okay, now you're just trying to get me to say 'Hedgehog Island', aren't you?" He asked, amused by my attempts.

"Well, you did just say it. In my book that's a victory!" I stated, earning myself a soft chuckle from him.

"But okay, you win. Let's explore... Hedgehog Island." This time it didn't roll of his tongue just as smoothly as it meant giving in, but he called it that either way.

"Great! Let's get going!" With that important discussion now taken care off, we could finally move on to other stuff.


	11. Chapter 3-11

_Sadly, you guys have now once again caught up. You'll have to wait until I finished chapter 4 before I'll be uploading another chapter. ;u;_

 _But hey! There is a bright side to all of this! When this chapter ends, I know you'll know what I'm talking about! :D_

 _Also, do you guys know the YouTube channel called 'Brave Wilderness'? Some of their more famous videos pretty much gave me the inspiration needed to finish this third chapter off with a bang!_

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 11**

 **Sonic's POV**

My goal for the rest of the day was to cheer Shadow up, keep him from worrying over our signal and relax a little. There was little he could do about it until the wood dried anyway.

But that required a sacrifice to be made, one that I had never imagined I'd ever have to make. It was one that made me feel like maybe it was a better idea to stay and set fire to wet logs or waste another whole day building a different pyre and probably finish by the time our original one would be dry already. It was one that made me regret not taking the chance to run across the ocean and possibly drown somewhere along the way.

I, without thinking of the consequences, suggested we could go back to the lake we had been avoiding and finally see what our 'monster' was all about.

While I could kick myself for even thinking of suggesting something like this, Shad's mood brightened up very quickly! Having wanted to check the lake out again, he immediately took the lead as we returned to the home of this elusive creature's lair.

So that's where we headed. As we walked, I listened to Shadow talking in the background, making all kinda assumptions about the black shade. Like how it lived, what species it could be, if it was stuck in the water or if it could come on land aswell.

Yeah, that hedgehog has really come around since our heart to heart two weeks ago. Things weren't as awkward anymore and that helped in making our stay bearable.

Our hope got punched in the gut by rain, don't care if that doesn't make sense, but we at least still had eachother to count on. That was best done without arguing.

Still wished I managed to cheer him up without involving water, though.

"It shouldn't be much farther now." Shadow stated as he looked at the bark of a tree, staring at the carvings made very recently into the bark.

Shad's been trying to develope a system. Either one of us could get lost in this vast jungle, Hedgehog Island was very big, by placing certain landmarks in certain places, like a type of carving into a tree, we'd know where, for example, the lake was. He'd write those carvings in his book and hoped that would help us stay navigated. It was quite a chore!

That was also something he started keeping himself busy with back when we were putting some distance between us. He had already made a carved path to the lake, to that boar cave, that cave with the deceased lovers, and this one area that was pretty reliable when it came to fruit. So yeah, he's been busy.

"Water, a lake, oh goodie!" I probably said that more sarcastic than I was supposed to as I followed Shadow when he continued to walk ahead.

"Oh, it'll be fine! I'll do the swimming and searching for a creature. You can go ahead and sunbathe for a little bit." The other hedgehog said as he pushed a branch away, nearly getting a full face of leaves when his hand slipped.

With a curse he walked on while I made no attempts at keeping a chuckle from slipping. But as the shimmering water of the lake peeked between the trees, my eyes were ready to pop out of my skull when I suddenly noticed a bug clinging onto the back of Shad's shirt.

It was... honestly scary as all hell...

No, it wasn't an insect, was it? It looked like it had eight long legs or were two of them pincers? It was black in colour and about as long as a finger. It kind of looked like a scorpion too, though I doubt it was one.

Shadow stopped out of nowhere and his voice trailed off.

"Sonic, what is that on my shirt?" He asked after he took a deep breath as he could feel something crawling up on his back.

"I don't know what that thing is, but it should probably be killed by fire." I tried to keep the mood light, knowing Shad's absolute disdain for anything with more than four legs.

I remember this one time when we all went to this one tropical resort last year when our two G.U.N agents finally managed to get some time off and come with us on a trip.

We had gone to this really nice place with a beautiful white beach, a hot sun, a dense jungle with exotic wildlife, comfortable luxurious resorts, where they could cook us some delicious meals and mix the best drinks, and plenty of activities for an adventurous guy like me to do. It was honestly a great time for all of us.

It was already late when we had arrived and so the first things we did was getting to our rooms to leave our bags and settle in before going down to the best local restaurant recommended to us by the resort's staff for some dinner. We had a great time while we were there! We talked, we joked, we laugh, got Shad to crawl out of his shell a little, it was awesome!

But then Shadow, after unpacking his stuff before leaving for dinner just like the rest of us, had suddenly outright refused to go back into his room and would not tell anyone why. Instead he had stubbornly waited outside of his room in the hallway for Rouge to return from her 'not-date' with Knuckles before he dared to tell anyone.

It was only then that we found out that the hedgehog would not go back in because there was a spider in his room.

Boy, did we laugh. Like any good friend would, of course! The Ultimate Lifeform afraid of a itty bitty spider? Ridiculous!

Except Rouge paled at the sight aswell when she had come back with some paper towels to pick it up after squashing it and had to alert the staff instead, who had called pest control because that 'itty bitty' spider turned out to be the size of a dinner plate.

Anyway, that was the night we had all discovered the ebony hedgehog's apparent disdain for creepy crawleys.

Which wasn't too surprising. After all, these weren't things he'd come across in a sanitary place like the Ark. He only ever learned of their existence on accident during his first year here on Mobius and it's been a scary journey of learning ever since.

Now it's been a good couple of years and Shadow was standing in front of me, trying not to tremble as he could feel the thing slowly crawling upwards. I felt a slight spike in Chaos energy, telling me that he was ready to turn around and start throwing Chaos Spears in the hopes of hitting something that could very possibly be venomous. And I don't think he was gonna see where he threw those things either.

"Sonic..." Shadow's fists were clenching and shaking from the effort. I could visibly see the cold chills running down his spine.

"Hold on, Shad, I'll get it off." I suppressed my chuckling, deciding to keep snarky comments for after I get the weird bug off of him to lighten up the mood then.

"Be... careful." Almost afraid to move, he stood there frozen in place, eagerly awaiting the moment I'd finally smack it away or something.

So that's what I did. Standing directly behind him and with little thoughts for my own safety, slapping it away is exactly what I decided to do.

Like an idiot, of course.

In a span of just a few seconds did several things go as wrong as they could've possibly gone.

I did get the insect off, but in doing so got the thing to latch onto my hand in a panicked frenzy, it crawled up my forearm in some vain and stupid attempt to get away from me, I yelled 'holy crap!' out loud for the first time in a long while as I tried to hit it again, except that pissed it off and got it sink its stinger into my skin.

Yup, I was a complete idiot and it all went wrong in just a sonic second or two. And all because I had to be a macho who don't need no twig!

It actually took me a full moment to realize that I had been stung, Shadow staring at me from over his shoulder as soon as he heard me freaking out and had seen me get stung by the thing.

"Fuck!" I didn't curse often and especially the f-bomb was rare to hear me say, but that was the first word that came to mind when this terrible burning came from the sting almost instantly, the unknown insect letting go and running off into the bush.

"Sonic!" Worry quickly took over as Shadow turned and wanted to grab my arm, which I kept out of his reach as I felt like his very touch would hurt.

"No, I'm-I'm fine! It's just... Damnit!" I don't think I've ever felt this much pain before.

In my life I've broken limbs, got burned a couple of time, bruised several ribs, I even died at some point at the hands of one half of a god! But nothing hurt as badly as this before. Death probably didn't win because I remembered very little of that exact moment.

Within seconds did this burning pain take over my entire arm, throbbing the worst around the area of the sting. It felt like it was gradually becoming worse with each heartbeat.

I've been stung before. Of course I have, I'm an idiot and that's just what we do, we get stung a lot. But no sting has ever hurt this much before. That whole limb was burning something fierce by now!

At this point I even collapsed to my knees, holding that limb close to my chest as if that could help lessen it, my teeth clenched onto eachother as suppressed cries left. My threshold of pain had never been all that low, it was actually pretty high after all I've been put through with my weekly heroics, but this was definitely pushing it.

"Sonic, if you'd just let me take a look!" Shadow's patience was wearing thin as he kept trying to reach for my arm to take a good look at it. Kneeling in front of me, he finally succeeded in grabbing my wrist to pull it towards him.

Finally in his line of sight, he could inspect it closer.

My whole forearm was growing redder and swelling up. Every inch of it felt tense and hot to the touch. Particularly the sting wound itself was pretty bad. Still, though it looked pretty worrisome to me, Shadow breathed an immediate sigh of relief.

When he insisted on checking my mouth, my pulse, my breathing, and then asked me if I was feeling dizzy next, he seemed to be relaxing a little more. It's almost like I could see his own pounding heartbeat calming down.

He decided to inform me of exactly why that was.

"So far it doesn't seem like you're having an allergic reaction to the sting. That is already a good thing." He told me, smiling slightly while I was still in a whole world of pain.

"Okay, fine, no allergies! What am I gonna do about this pain?!" I didn't really get how lucky I probably was for not having an allergic reaction to what was pretty much an unknown species of whatever that was with no hospitals nearby.

Shadow seemed to be the most knowledgeable out of the two of us when it came to everything survival, medical, and science. So it was to him that I searched for an answer.

"Ah man! I always thought I was too much of a man to cry, but I really want to bawl right now!" I hissed, my fists clenching until my sharp claws drew a little blood in my palms.

Damnit! Screw spiders! Fuck insects! Every damn scorpion can go right to hell! Whatever the damn heck just stung me, I hope it burns and dies in a fire!

"Sonic, please, calm down." Shadow was being the very definition of calm while I was pretty much losing it, placing his hands on my shoulders.

I wasn't just in pain, but I was absolutely angry too. Seeing Shad so relaxed made that a little bit better.

And then I saw another side to him that I never knew I'd ever see from him.

I've known him to be caring since being stranded here with him after that plane crash four months ago, but this was almost... motherly.

"Come on, up on your feet." With a strict grip on my other arm did he pull me up on my feet and forced me to come along with him towards the lake, though I wanted nothing more than to curl up, roll on the ground, and weep from the pain.

I could only follow him and sit back down again on the shore, which is where Shadow decided to strip himself of his black top.

By now I was ready to do the same. The burning was making me sweat profusely and I just felt like throwing everything off to try and combat this heat.

"It'll be fine. I can't quite qualify as a doctor, but I do know enough to be sure that you're not having an allergic reaction. And I think I do know how to help relief you a little." The hedgehog spoke back up again after stripping off his top and soaked it in the cool water of the lake, wringing all the excess water out, before kneeling in front of me again and pressing it down on the area of the sting.

"There. That should help." He claimed, giving me what I could only call was a comforting smile, his attempt at lightening up the mood.

And he ended up being right. That pain was nowhere near disappearing, but the relieving cold did help against this horrible burning that bullied me. I could actually release something similar to a breath of relief myself.

"You're right. This is so much better." I dared to grin again too as the chill was a massive help. It felt like I was regaining my sanity again.

"However, I don't know how we can expect your body to react to this sting. For some insects and arachnids a fierce pain can last for a couple of minutes and for others it can take from half an hour up to hours with the pain coming in waves." He told me, leaving me to finish up for him.

"So we basically have to play the waiting game." So I stated and Shadow nodded, giving me a look of sympathy.

To say I wasn't looking forward to finding out exactly which delightful path my pain would take was a bit of an understatement.

"But don't worry too much about it. Many people may underestimate the sting or bite of something so small, but I don't. I'll be here every step of the way. If you need someone to curse and shout at or punch when the pain becomes too much, than I'll be right here for you." He had this gaze in his eyes that I couldn't look away from as he talked.

It was soft, genuine, the complete opposite of that ferocity I first came to know years ago.

It was doing strange things to me. I think maybe because this caring, almost motherly, nature was a side he wouldn't dare show anyone but me. There are no doubts in my mind, not even his most trusted allies knew of this side.

It drew me even closer to him.

"Or if you simply need someone to sit here and hold your hand, that's fine too. I'll be here, no matter what, no matter how long I have to wait. I promise." This wasn't just about the sting anymore, of which the pain was acting up again. He tried to make it seem that way, but it wasn't.

It must've been this newer side to him shown right now and made audible by his words that was the last straw.

I hadn't seen this with Amy, not with one single fan that claimed to love me, with no one. This was what I had been looking for in a mate, in the one I'd spend the rest of my life with, all this time and I never realized it until now.

I could honestly not control myself.

I was ready.

"Hmm?!" A hum of surprise left the ebony hedgehog when I grabbed his face with both of my hands and pulled him closer to kiss him full on the lips without another thought, without hesitation.

The pain was flaring up again, but I didn't care. All that mattered to me right now was finally replying to those feelings he's been having, the same ones I didn't respond to weeks ago.

Shadow did so too. Placing his hands on my upper biceps, he reluctantly deepened the kiss, not sure what else to do with his lack of experience. So he did what his heart told him to do and that was to carefully return it.

When we eventually broke away, Shadow gave me a wordless 'thank you' for stealing his first kiss with a simple look of gratitude.

"Should've done this ages ago." I stated, trying to fight my way through this wave of pain.

"Yes, I agree. We've been here for so long, you should've gotten stung already." He responded, chuckling along with me before he hesitantly dared to start another kiss himself, capturing my lips with his and all I could do was answer to it.

It's been four months by now. It took a plane crash, an uninhabited and unknown island to get stranded on, and a possibly lethal bug attack, but finally we were together and I don't think I ever wanna let go.


	12. Chapter 4-12

_Sword of Malnok challenged me in a review for the previous chapter to finish the next one before Sonic Mania's release tomorrow._

 _Of course, as is my habit, I stalled and stalled until the 10th of August arrived and I figured that I should probably start writing. So here it is! :'D_

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 12**

 **Sonic's POV**

I wasn't so lucky when it got to the pain from the sting that bug decided to give me after I hadn't provoked it in the least.

I hoped it wouldn't come in endless waves for the rest of the day and instead slowly fade away after about half an hour, like Shad said and reassured me could happen. I hoped it wouldn't start itching and swell up 'till it was about the size of my head.

'Course, that was exactly what happened.

And hours of pain coming in waves didn't only make me weep like a total baby for the rest of the day, what a sight that must've been for the hedgehog that had a crush on me for longer than a year now, but also didn't stop my arm from being sore for days to come and from swelling up like a water balloon that itched for hours on end. It even felt like it was kinda hard to move my left shoulder right aswell.

That soreness dragged on for a good few days afterwards, but I hardly noticed as my mind was obviously on more important things. Or people, I should say.

Shadow has constantly been on my mind lately.

Ever since we kissed that day, everything's been great. There was just no other way of putting it! Call it twitterpated or whatever, realizing that I did really, really like him and kissing him was taking a toll on me.

I used to get a rush of energy from running through the open fields. To feel the wind rushing through my quills, my heart pounding, pushing my legs until they cramped and my lungs burned, that was what gave me a true adrenaline kick. Battling Egghead's robots, saving the world time and again also never failed in making my blood boil with excitement.

But now just waking up and seeing Shadow was all I needed to get my heart pumping and pounding loudly in my chest.

He'd be standing there in the water to fish and I'd stand by the sidelines, admiring his slender and tight physique from afar. He could just be writing in that book of his by the fire and I would be sitting there and watching the light emphasize his face in just the right way. He'd get out of the water, maybe even get splashed by a wave, and I'd just take notice of the way his clothes stuck to his body, especially his white shirt.

And I swear it's not creepy in any way because he likes me back.

For some reason being stuck here with him as my only companion wasn't so bad anymore. Yeah, I'll always be missing my friends, like all the time, but that wouldn't stop me from feeling lucky that it was Shadow I had ended up with.

We were an official couple now. Realizing that time and again made me feel so much better than I ever thought possible. None of my exes, few as there were, ever made me feel this way before.

That was probably why I've never slept with any of them before either.

Yeah, I was a virgin, something that I don't think Shad was aware of. If he held any expectations for our first time together, than I hope I can still meet all of them when the time comes. Because yeah, I can see myself actually sleeping with this guy.

I guess it would only be fair. I did hold some for him aswell.

Like not hanging out with my attacker for example.

"I always thought you were the most afraid of bugs out of the two of us. Now I see you chilling here with one and I feel my skin crawling at just the sight of it." I stated, watching from a small distance as Shadow sat at our extinguished campfire in front of our modest home.

Chest bare and nose stuck in a notepad, he had one of those black scorpion bug things sitting next to him in a plastic container that used to hold expired food from the plane as stuff still occasionally came washing ashore from the crash four and a half months ago.

There he was, writing in a notepad I had never seen before and with the little prick who could possibly have been the one to sting me. And somehow Shadow did not see a single problem with that.

"I'm not particularly enjoying this either, Sonic, but it's important that we keep track of these animals. No one knows what might be living on Hedgehog Island, so we should at least know which are dangerous and which aren't. I have already added the boar, the fish we eat, and dedicated a still relatively empty page to the creature we were supposed to be checking out in the lake well over two weeks ago." Shad replied, clearly missing the point.

"And you had to bring it here?" I asked in turn, referring to that black little jerk chillaxing in that small plastic box, breathing through the holes Shadow made in it with his knife.

I understood why Shadow wanted a catalogue of all these animals, I really do get it. I mean, safety first right? But does it have to be here?

I could pretty much see it staring back at me with those callous black beady eyes.

Without a doubt it's plotting my murder.

"I brought it here because I thought it'd be a bad idea to stay away from the shore for too long." Shad replied a bit too nonchalantly, causing me to believe something a little different was going on in his mind right now.

"Oh yeah? And why can't you stay away from the shore for too long?" I asked, a smile appearing on my muzzle as I knew what this was really about and I didn't care enough to hide it.

"Well..." Shadow had never been the one to lie, always the kinda guy who told the truth no matter how harsh. So it wasn't a surprise he couldn't come up with a good excuse now either. He was a terrible liar.

"Scared you'd miss me too much?" So I asked and soon chuckled when Shadow didn't deny it even after a little while of silence.

His lips curled up in a slight smile aswell as he heard my question and the teasing tone attached to it.

"Okay, fine. I didn't want to stay too long away from you. Happy now?" He replied, placing the notepad down for a moment.

Another chuckle left me at his answer, after which I decided to lean back against this log we decided to place on two sides of our campfire.

It was for decoration and for slow days like today, when we'd simple sit around, do nothing useful, and enjoy the sun.

They were actually logs we found washed up aswell. Not here at the beach, but deeper in the jungle at the shore of a river, which was where we got our water from as you just can't drink sea water. Too salty and not the good kind.

Yeah, we took some risks, but Shadow ensured me it was safe. So far I don't experience any troubles with it.

Anyway, finding them did bring Shad to an idea, though. What it was I had absolutely no idea as he hasn't shared it with me yet and I hadn't bothered to ask either.

But there was something I wanted to ask him, though.

"Where did you get that notepad from anyway?" I asked, changing our subject to something a little different.

That thing did just appear out of thin air.

"This?" Shadow asked, referring to the thin book he held in his hand, to which I nodded.

"I found this a few days ago. It was amongst the stuff in that cave of the Two Lovers. While you were out wood hunting I took my chance to go back and see if there was stuff we might need. Turns out they had this laying around and I thought it might be useful. I am running out of space in our book, so it turns out it was." He explained and flipped through the pages, not knowing how I'd react.

When I frowned, I reacted exactly the way he'd think I would.

"I know you don't approve of me ransacking their stuff, but we could really use some of it." He added, making a bit of a good point.

Yeah, he's told me that before and that didn't make it any less true, but still it felt really wrong to be stealing from the dead. They might not need it anymore, but that didn't make me feel like any less of a jerk.

Shadow knew this and he understood how I could feel this way, but at the same time he couldn't understand how I could let that feeling get to me so much when there was clearly stuff we could use.

A deep sigh left me and I sank even deeper down the side of the log, arms crossing and my gaze cast upwards.

I guess a part of me just didn't want to get it either. That's pretty much the reason why Shadow, in some way, was tougher than me.

My boyfriend, still kinda gotta get used to calling him that, quickly caught onto my silence and decided to make a remark about it.

Putting the notepad and his pencil away on top of the small container with that creepy crawley, Shadow decided to get up and approach.

"Sonic... We need that stuff. If those two could look down on us now, they would've wanted us to use their belongings because they would know how hard it is to survive out here." He told me as he settled in front of the log next to me.

"We seem to be doing quite okay right now, but don't let quiet moments like these fool you. We hardly have a sanitary bathroom, we wash ourselves with freezing cold water, and I'm not even going to start on how I take care of my... monthly business, but anyway!" Shadow kept on talking, only quickly mentioning that last part as he really didn't want to elaborate on that.

"We are only getting by this fine because we're lucky. It's honestly a miracle that you're not skin and bones or caught some kind of illness yet. But things won't always go this smoothly and we will one day need everything we can find. That will include their stuff. They would've wanted us to use it if it would help us survive." He was a voice of reason right now, settling a hand on my thigh as I was being the grump for once.

Shadow was right. This was all about survival, about staying healthy and safe. if they had something we might someday need, we shouldn't let our feelings cloud our minds and keep our morals from taking that which we may need.

I didn't like it, but it was the truth.

"Fine, you win. We can take another look later, 'kay?" I asked, taking Shad's hand into my own and he gave me an ever so slight smile and a small squeez as a response.

"We'll go tomorrow. I want to finish my observation concerning that insect so I can get rid of it and fast. The thing's giving me the creeps and I want it gone." He stated, briefly glancing at the plastic container with the unmoving bug as it still continued to stare back at us with its callous gaze.

I could see Shadow grow visibly more uncomfortable the longer he stared at it form the corners of his eyes. He knew aswell as I did that it was scheming something.

"Okay, tomorrow. And this time I'll come with you and you won't have to sneak off behind my back, however the heck you managed to do that." I promised and set up a little straighter, his hand still in my hold.

"It actually isn't all that difficult, Sonic. All I need is to send you away for a chore or to wake up a little earlier than you usually do. It's quite easy actually." Shad replied, honest about how easy of a time he apparently always had sneaking away from me. He was a bit smug about it too, just for the sake of teasing me.

"Really? It's that easy? Clearly I need to step up my game." I returned the teasing, though I don't know for what I needed to step my game up for, it's not like Shad could leave me.

And even if he could, who would wanna leave this sexy hunk of a hedgehog behind?

"If you think that's going to help." After one last smile and a squeeze in my hand, Shadow got up and took back his original seat at the opposite side of the fire. Enough stalling, he wanted to continue on with his catalogue, so he could get rid of this bug spider thing still in our midst.

After all of this is over and done with, Shadow and I could figure out what to do with the rest of our day.


	13. Chapter 4-13

**The Island: Chapter 13**

 **Sonic's POV**

The next morning came soon enough and, after some breakfast and gathering some wood to stack up on top of the pile of ashes for later use, we were on our way to the cave I promised we could take a second look at together.

Though I knew what awaited us inside, I figured I could give the place another chance as Shadow was right about two things. We needed to stick together and the Two Lovers did have some stuff that might come in handy someday. So I decided to tag along at least for today.

Besides, he needs to cut it out with this whole 'exploring island by himself' thing. At the smallest signs of trouble do I think something's the matter with him!

Heh, you'd think it'd be the other way around. That I would be all over this place, discovering the secrets hidden in every little nook and cranny and Shadow would be the one telling me to stay close to camp and be careful.

Okay, so Shadow was still the more sensible one out of the two of us, but for some reason he was also the one who did most of the searching, who's curiosity made him want to explore our island until every secret was known to him.

We found the cave again, which wasn't even a long walk away from our campsite and we got a nice romantic late-morning walk on the beach out of it, and Shad was the first to enter inside.

Following him in, the first thing I noticed was that the couple hadn't been moved from their spot, but a tarp had been placed over them to hide the two from view.

I shot my new lover one confused look and he replied to my silent question.

"Just because I rob this cave for our convenience and disrespect the dead doesn't mean I particularly like seeing dead people." He stated before opening the trunk we found the first time we looked in here.

I guess it is a sight one just can't get used to no matter how many times they see them. Some people might get used to it, but not us.

As the darker hedgehog searched the large and old leather trunk, I stood there awkwardly in the middle of the wide space, scanning our surroundings and once again reminding myself of how those two had made this cave their home, however long ago that had been.

Their stuff was old, though. How long ago were they shipwrecked? A couple of years? Decades? Have they really been here for that long?

"Sonic, hold that for me." Shadow suddenly spoke up. Looking back at him, I saw him hold out a pair of binoculars for me to take while he continued his search with only one hand.

I took it from him and looked through it out the entrance of the cave. The thing was dirty, but still in perfect working condition. All it needed was some cleaning and it'd be as good as new! Or it looked that way at least, not that I'm an expert.

If there even was such a thing as an expert on binoculars.

Leaving Shadow to search through the abandoned stuff, I left the cave for a little while to search the horizon with the binoculars in hand. Like a small kid did I look through it and scanned the ocean. In the background I could hear my boyfriend mutter and rummage behind me about what might and what might not be useful to us.

Though not expecting to find much on the open sea, I have to admit that it was pretty for a body of water with the rays of the sun shining down on it, but something did manage to catch my attention.

Something was catching the light way up ahead. It's colour was white and it appeared to be shiny. It was too far away to even make out what it was from this distance, but there was definitely something strange out there, an object of sorts that didn't belong out there on the ocean.

Or did it?

After taking a brief moment to glance back at Shadow, who was now kneeling in front of the leather trunk with his nose stuck in a dusty and worn book, I sped away from the cave entrance to stand knee-deep in the water.

Now closer to my current target of interest, though not by much, I took another look through the binoculars as I hoped to see it better now, hoped this small difference in distance could still help me see what it was.

And I did.

It's most prominent feature was still the white colour, but now I could also see that it had windows, which was where the shine came from as it reflected the sunlight, and a very familiar kind of shape.

Was that a...

Yes, it had to be!

It was a boat!

"Shad! Shadow! Come here! You have to see this!" I shouted as loud as I could to draw his attention. And when he didn't react as fast as I would've liked him to, I quickly ran back over to the cave and scooped the darker hedgehog up in my arms to bring him back to the shore with me.

He had given me a look that spoke volumes of how rude he thought it was for me to interrupt his searching and looting, one eyebrow raised in a fashion that I often used myself. Though only a fan of close contact when it came to me, this was not something he really appreciate.

At first, because when I shoved those binoculars back into his hands and pointed where I wanted him to look, one glance was enough to turn that frown upside down and he said exactly what I was thinking.

"A boat... That's a boat! Someone must've seen our fire, after all!" Excited just as I was to finally get out of here, Shad couldn't help but smile, his usually calm voice raising.

A feeling of happiness, a sensation so big even I wasn't that familiar with it, swelled up inside both of us at the thought of returning home, to our friends, to civilization. I think I'd even be happy just to see Egghead again! I've been dying to smash some bots of his!

"Hold your breath." My boyfriend told me, completely catching me off guard with that strange demand.

"Wha?" Leaving our stuff at our campsite in fear of missing the boat, this dream come true, Shadow grabbed my wrist on a whim and wasted no time in Chaos Controlling us as close as he could to our rescue, trying to warp on judgement alone.

Of course, that meant I immediately got a lung full of water as Shadow's teleportation wasn't as accurate as we would've liked and so we ended up in the ocean instead.

But thankfully, Shad decided to repay me for keeping his ass above water when we crashed four months ago, nearly five already as we were certain it was nearing October by now. Admittedly, he was doing a better job at it than I was, holding me close to his chest and my head above the sea level while blind panic wanted me to start thrashing and yelling for being dunked in the ocean so suddenly. Clearly, G.U.N had made sure he was trained at this too.

"I've got you, Hedgehog. Don't worry, I've got you." He reassured me and for some reason it worked.

My heart was still pounding up a storm, my breathing was quick and shallow, I was acting nothing like the knight in shining armor that pulled Shadow out of the water after the plane crashed or tried to save him when I thought he was drowning in that lake. Still, having him near and hearing his voice somehow helped me calm down.

Was it because we were official now? Or maybe it's because I've known him for so long now?

Shadow spotted the boat he was hoping to Chaos Control towards and found out he managed to get us pretty close, which was pretty good since he had only an unclear image and only an estimation of how far away it was to work with just minutes ago.

A smile briefly appeared on his muzzle, feeling slightly smug at this small accomplishment, as he swam closer to our target.

But then he suddenly stopped and with my back turned to him and the boat, I couldn't see just what made him halt like that.

"Uh, Shad? We're still in the middle of the ocean. Mind trying to get us onboard?" I asked as I held onto him for dear life as much as I could in this position. My chest was tightening up while it became harder and harder for me to breath and it wasn't just because of the chilly temperature of the water all around me.

No, it was all that... that deep... deep water... No bottom to be seen anywhere, the closest landmass already too far away to swim towards.

Chaos, I hate water...

An annoyed sigh, close to a frustrated growl, left my companion before he swam over to our destination.

"Shad?" I'd want to know where such sudden hostility came from. Despites the water gaining all of my attention, I didn't fail to notice such frustration.

I expected Shadow to call out to whoever owned the boat or to climb up on it himself and to haul me up there with him. I was pulled out of the water by him, alright, but not on a sleek white surface.

As the darker one of us stood up on his feet, clothes, fur and quills heavy now that they were soaked through, I now found myself sitting on rock instead.

Confused, I turned to look at the boat we were supposed to board, figuring that we were further away than Shad had though. But that's when I noticed that it was right there in front of us.

Stuck on the same rock formation we were now on aswell.

Once again there was a spike in Chaos energy and I glanced up to Shadow, who was facepalming at this discovery.

"A damn boat that crashed right into a reef." I heard him mutter, growling imminent.

The sharp rocks, the colorful corals, and fish escaped our attention as it was drawn entirely by this lost thing. It was abandoned, just like every other manmade objects and such we found here. Now that we were so close to it, we could see that the weather had already taken its toll on the boat by now. Was it a yacht? Nah, too small.

As I got up on my feet, wringing my clothes dry to the best of my ability, a sigh left my lungs as disappointment settled in my chest.

Heh. For a good moment there I really did believe we were finally gonna get out of here. I dared to hope we could go home.

Turns out I was wrong. We both were.

If Shadow was feeling in anyway angry or upset, he wasn't showing it anymore as he approached the boat and climbed up with ease. I followed him up there, slipping slightly as my sneakers were wet too.

Shad was being silent as he made way to the wheelhouse for the helm, opening the door and entering without hesitation. Once inside, a slight look of disgust made way to his face, one that didn't stay there for long before his neutral expression returned to his face to mask his emotions.

He was quick to return to my side and make sure that I didn't let my curiosity get to me.

"It's the owner of the boat. Dead. Still decomposing. Couldn't have been here for longer than a few months." Just the thought of it was making me sick to my stomach. I don't get how Shadow could deal with all that.

Geez, all these deceased people... I've never seen so many lives lost until I left for this lovely holiday.

What was it about Hedgehog Island and people dying when they come here? That couple, the people on the plane, now the captain over there...

I asked this exact same question to Shadow.

"Why do ships and planes disappear in the Bermuda Triangle? Magnetism, aliens, sea monsters? Let's just say this island's omen of death is something we should leave as a mystery, just like the Triangle." I wanted to repeat the question.

"Sonic, I'd rather not end up alone because you ask questions that are better left unanswered. For all we know you're being an idiot and this is all just a simple coincidence." Was his answer, teasing and taunting to lighten the mood after another harrowing discovery.

I showed him I appreciated the effort with a smile, one he returned.

"Do you want to check down below deck? We might find something to eat or drink that's not fish, fruit, or water." He suggested and I just could not pass this opportunity up.

"Oh, you don't have to tell me twice!" I replied and was quick to dive below deck, eager to find something new to eat.

Fruit and fish was fine and all, especially now that my personal cook was finding new ways to prepare it, but I'm dying for something a little sweeter and with more sugar. A lot more sugar. Though usually preferring more the healthy kind of diet, except when it comes to that little piece of heaven known as chili dogs, I could totally go for some junkfood right now.

With a shake of his head, Shadow followed me down into the cabin, huffing in distate upon noticing the cobwebs littering this place.

Geez, spiders get everywhere, don't they? How do they even do that?

We didn't find it worth it to raid the fridge, figuring that everything supposed to be kept in there was probably way overdue by now anyway.

So we looked through the cabinets and such instead and, boy, did we find a whole treasure trove of food! We found a couple of candy and chocolate bars, some soda, even a bag of marshmallows. They were all pure gold in my eyes!

I will do my best to conserve such precious treasures.

And since Shadow is certain that poor man upstairs had to be here for a few months at most, we were sure all of this was still edible! We could take it all home with us! Awesome!

So that's exactly what we did. With one simple Chaos Control, this time a lot more accurate, Shad brought us both back to our campsite, where we quickly stored our newly found food away in the same plastic crate we had also found in that cabin.

I was absolutely exhilirated with our find, though it had followed a more dreadful one.

But that didn't stop my thoughts from taking a darker turn.

* * *

Early that evening after dinner that was followed by chocolate for dessert, the glee of our find began to fade away and that's when those thoughts arrived, when my mood became a little more gloomy.

Shadow easily picked up on it.

"Is something the matter?" He asked after a little while, looking up from his new book again, like he's been doing a couple of times now once he noticed my frown as I poked the fire with a stick, legs crossed and leaning my chin in the palm of my hand.

"I was just thinking of all the bodies we find in this place. I mean, sure, we shouldn't ask too many questions, but don't you think we should do something about them?" I replied to him with another question and gazed back at him.

"We won't be solving any mysteries, Sonic. Don't tempt fate or it will take you away from me." Shadow answered, worried at the very thought of what I might do.

I tended not to think things through. Luckily for him, that wasn't what I was talking about.

"That actually wasn't what I was gonna say. I'm talking about doing something... nice for them, I guess? I mean, I know they're dead and all, but-"

"You want to give them a funeral?" He finished for me, though with another question, as he closed the book on his lap. It was the same one I saw him reading when I spotted that boat earlier today. It was an old novel apparently, one about timetraveling.

"Yeah, kinda like that. It doesn't have to be a funeral, but I think we should at least give them a proper burial instead of letting them lie around and rot. You said it yourself, the Two Lovers gives you the creeps, right? Isn't that why you covered them up?" I don't know why I was so eager to convince him of this plan.

Shadow gave it little thought, quickly coming to the same conclusion as me. Though we couldn't give them an actual ceremony, we could at least bury them and he found himself to be more comfortable with that aswell.

Well, more comfortable than having bodies just lie around for their empty eye sockets to peer straight into our souls.

As a sigh of defeat left him, I knew there was no way Shadow would refuse.

"You're right. We should at least give them that. It's only right." He responded, though it wasn't exactly something he was looking forward too himself.

And so I guess I know what we'll be doing first thing tomorrow.


	14. Chapter 4-14

_I guess this chapter is kind of dark, maybe a little uncomfortable for some people? But I figured Sonadow needed to do something about all those bodies I'm making them find._

 _Also, you should probably read the previous chapter again. As I divided the original chapter 4 up in these smaller parts, this one ended up becoming a little too lengthy for comfort, so I cut out a small part and added it to chapter 13's ending instead. Keeps the chapters a little more balanced with eachother._

 _And this once again concludes another chapter. Next up is chapter 5! :3_

* * *

 **The Island: Chapter 14**

 **Sonic's POV**

And tomorrow came quicker than we would've wanted. Knowing what we had decided to do, this morning wasn't a good one.

Yeah, yeah, we were doing it for a good reason and with the best of intentions, but that didn't mean we liked to do this or even remotely looked forward too it. I honestly don't know who was less excited out of the two of us, me or Shadow.

But we made a promise, though to no one in particular, that we would do this. If just for our own peace of mind.

Shadow managed to fashion us some makeshift shovels out of sticks and the strongest tree bark. They were weak and splintery, but they got the job done just fine at least.

We found a good spot little ways past the cave, near the same cliff it had been carved into throughout the endlessly long, long years, and dug three graves. We couldn't get exactly 6 feet down under, but they were deep enough at least.

It wasn't the nicest chore in the world, Shadow was especially disgusted as he took it upon himself to move the still decaying body from the boat to his last resting place as he wasn't capable of becoming sick, but we did feel like we were doing the right thing.

That's what I liked to believe.

Once all three of them had been moved to our new graveyard, never thought that was something we'd create, like ever, we bound the straightest branches we could find together to create three crosses just to keep tabs on where we buried them.

Now that all of that was finally over, we held a moment of silence for them out of respect. Between the two of us, that was spend mostly thinking.

"We're not counting this as a first date, right?" I asked once the moment passed and a huff left the other.

"If we're dating than I surely hope not. You have to treat me to a nice restaurant next for this to qualify as a date." He answered as he left my side in order to wash his hands with the salt water of the ocean. It was all he could do with our current circumstances.

"'If we're dating'? Did you seriously just say that?!" I asked as I followed him, only pretending to be angry in a teasing kind of way.

"Yes. Yes, I did." Was Shadow's simple reply. Not feeling up to coming with a retort, I smiled back at him instead.

Well, the mood was light now after what we had just done, both of us were smiling, and soaking up the good weather.

So how about we ruin it again?

"I hate to bring down our mood, but this does remind me of all those people on the plane." Shadow started up quite the dreary conversation, though I guess it was more appropriate than cracking jokes and taunting eachother.

"Yeah, same here." I sighed and dropped down on the sand next to him as he had kneeled when trying to wash his hands clean.

I honestly didn't try to think about it, Shad's even been trying to keep the topic closed since the last time we discussed it weeks and weeks ago. It worked until situations like this pushed the event back to the front of our minds again.

We already knew two things for certain. Those people were assassinated for this important world-changing meeting they were all heading to and the pilots were the culprits, that's what their sudden disappearance told us anyway. But knowing so didn't make it any easier to deal with.

It was one thing to come across strangers unfortunate enough to come across this place and meet their ends without their loved ones ever knowing what happened to them, but it was entirely different thing when people died on my watch.

I was right there! Shadow was there! The Ultimate lifeform and Mobius' favourite hero! It happened right under our noses!

How could they have poisoned those people without us noticing?

Yeah, we had both been dozing off, but does that really explain how we never noticed?

I guess that's why Shadow wasn't so keen on talking about it either, though he was infinitely more familiar with these kinda situations than I was. The verb 'losing' just wasn't in my personal dictionary.

"What do you think is happening out there right now? With those pilots? With Eggman? The others?" Our disappointment from the day before fresh in our mind, the questions just came pouring out.

Though I try to keep up this positive outlook on life even now, not a day goes by that I don't think about them.

"Well, those pilots, if they truly were assassins, are now living good lives with the money they earned from a job well done, probably paid extra for taking us out in the process. Ivo is most likely growing bored because you're not there to stop him. And our friends and allies are probably doing what they do best; annoy eachother and save the world." Was Shadow's quick answer, something he didn't even need to think twice about.

"Oh, and how would you know?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, pulling my legs up to my chest to rest my elbows on my knees. I referring more to Egghead and our friends. There just was no question of what those two dudes really were.

And yeah, the water of the ocean was soaking through my pants, but that's just something you grow used to over time when living on the beach of an island. At least I wasn't actually in it myself.

"I sometimes forget, but you don't know Ivo the way I do, do you?" Shadow asked, turning his head to look back at me.

"Well, you're both Robotniks. So no, I guess I don't." I responded, shrugging.

They weren't related by blood and had only met just a couple of years ago in possibly the worst and most unhealthy circumstances possible, but they still considered eachother family to some degree. And with that I mean that they didn't let their shared last name get in the way of a battle.

But still, there were some things only family could know, especially with a person as weird as Eggman, no matter how young that bond could be.

"If you're curious, he does actually enjoy your battles. More than he lets on at least. Honestly, if you weren't there to stop him, he'd live a boring life." He told me and I can't help but be surprised.

So for all his attempts to kill me and all his fury and rage whenever I beat him, Eggman still enjoys it somewhere deep down, huh? And here I thought I was the only one who felt that way.

I'd tease him with this little secret my boyfriend let slip, but because of obvious reasons that will have to wait.

"Okay, now what was that about our friends being annoying?" I asked, nudging him with an elbow, causing him to smirk lightly.

"Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have our inner circle any different, but haven't you noticed how they are all driving eachother insane all the time?" Shad stated in a question, causing a laugh to erupt from me.

"Are you sure that's not just you?" I asked, smirking.

"Oh, I'm positive, Hedgehog. Are you saying that I'm a liar?" Shadow responded, eyes narrowing in a playful glare.

"What if I am? Are you gonna make me pay for it?" I retorted and leant in closer, supporting most of my weight on one arm, my challenging smirk never once fading.

"Depends on how much you deserve it." Leaning in just a little bit closer in turn, it took us a good second to realize just how close we were, our faces only inches apart.

It was so easy to close the gap now, like all those months of tension meant nothing anymore. I don't know exactly who made the first move, but our lips met immediately. Mine pressed deeply against his and our hearts skipped a beat.

They say that this kind of passion, the heated excitement of just being around eachother, the fluttering feeling in our chest, the butterflies in our gut, only lasts the first few couple of months of a relationship. That is if it doesn't already die down sooner.

I genuinely hope it'll stay much longer than that. It isn't a feeling I think I could ever grow tired of.

Our kissing grew more heated as our eyes closed. Shadow's arms wrapped around my neck and mine around his lower back, pulling eachother even closer.

We would've continued, but the moment I tried to slip my tongue between his lips to pretty much initiate the very first make-out session in our fresh and young relationship, Shadow suddenly pushed me away. With his hands on my shoulders did he stare at me in shock, like I had just tried to do something completely foreign to him.

Heh, I sometimes worry because I haven't actually slept with anyone yet myself and now I find out Shadow knows even less than me?! I was worrying for nothing! This is great!

Well, it was for me.

"Uhm... Maybe we shouldn't do this here..." Unusually hesitant, Shadow stood up and took a good step away from me.

I followed his example, soon smirking as I noticed the distance he was keeping.

"What's wrong? This too much for you?" I asked and gestured to my own body, eliciting a short and amused huff out of him.

"Oh sure, that must be it. And certainly not the three graves we just dug." He retorted back in a sarcastic tone, pointing towards the crosses not all that far away from us.

And there goes the mood again.

"Right... That was... Huh..."

"Insensitive? Careless? Thoughtless?"

"You're not helping, Shad." That slight smile returned at my response.

"Let's go back to our camp. We've done all we can here." Shadow stated and I couldn't help but agree.

It was better to return and let this final resting place for these three deceased people stay a place of rest. There wasn't anything else we could do for them.

* * *

Back at our fancy shack did we try to get on with our day. Despites the way our morning had started out for us, what we did wasn't exactly a pleasant job, we tried to find something to brighten up our mood.

Everything was so strangely quiet now and I didn't like it. And this time the tension between us wasn't caused by some callous action of mine.

But no matter how hard you want to try, sometimes you just can't stop a bad day from growing even worse.

We were standing at our signal fire, which was still proving useless so far even now that it was burning so bright and fierce. We were getting rid of our makeshift shovels. They had broken somewhere along the way and had no value for us anymore, so we decided to add them to our pyre instead. That way they could still be of use to us after all.

It changed little to our pile. It was still as hot, big, and loud as ever.

But it was then that we noticed, as we turned to our camp to keep our other, smaller fire going to scare off animals and critters alike, that we noticed something strange in the sky.

"Sonic..." Shadow called my name to turn my attention to it aswell, even though I was already looking at it.

Something was falling, shooting through the sky. And what was that it left behind? Was that a smoke plume? A trail?

My eyes squinted as if that could help me get a better look at what I was seeing. It was definitely coming straight for our island, could impact it at any second. Without a doubt it would be loud and we would feel the tremors even from here, but at least we'd still be safe from it at this distance.

When it did and the two of us had to brace ourselves at the loud bang that hurt our eardrums, that's when it suddenly hit me. Shadow seemed to realize it too.

"It's an Eggman robot!" We exclaimed at the same time and a new sense of hope welled up within.

"Come on!" I told him and we both hurried over to where it crashed, the smoke telling us exactly where to look.

What should've been nearly an hour of walking to a cliff far from our home turned into a full-out sprint that took us there in just a few seconds, in time to catch the robotic object that just fell from the sky.

I don't think I've ever been more happy to see one of Egghead's robots than today. The color scheme of red, yellow, and black, his logo and ego plastered all over this thing, I never thought I'd ever miss seeing one of his pieces of junk, especially when it was made to destroy.

But here we were and here it was. Just seeing that thing, broken as it was, felt like a miracle!

Shadow was especially happy with this new turn of events.

"Yes... Yes! This is it! Sonic, it's our way home!" He could barely contain his happiness, much like yesterday when we found that oh so promising boat.

I couldn't really follow, though.

"What? This thing? How?" I asked, watching the darker hedgehog approach the robot with hurry and kneel next to it.

It was a classic badnik, one that was still so round and wasn't all that big. It was all torn up and I could recognize that technique from anywhere. It was definitely Knux who did this!

Of course those guys were doing great in keeping the world safe in my place. Though saving people was my life and has been for a long time now, I still can't help but feel glad that they're doing just fine without me.

I watched as Shadow pulled the broken robot's chest plate away with ease, revealing its wiring and inner skeletal structure inside. I just stood there and stared at what he was doing, clueless as to how this thing could possibly help us.

"Yes, it's still working!" He stated, out of nowhere even more excited for reasons that were beyond me as I still had no clue.

He pulled something out of the robot's chest, a small grey and rectangular box held in both of his hands with numbers in bright red LED-lights. The box was still connected with wires to the energy source, the battery, that kept this thing going.

"You see this?" Shadow asked, showing me those numbers. I figured this was the part where he would give me an explanation, so I nodded.

"These are our coordinates. Every single one of Eggman's creations have random numbers set. In order to prevent his technology from falling into the wrong hands, he's programmed his robots to launch towards these set coordinates." He said, which was something I actually didn't know.

Heh, imagine that. Years of battling him and his creations and I didn't know that.

"They are all connected to the base he's currently in. If I somehow reroute this thing to send these exact coordinates back to Eggman, he might be curious enough to check it out and that could mean our rescue!" Shadow continued before rummaging back inside the robot, determined to see this plan through.

Lucky me! Not only is my little bro a genius, but my boyfriend's got some smarts too!

"Now I may not be as handy in technology as Tails or Eggman, but I think I can accomplish this somehow. Even without the proper tools." I was perfectly okay with sitting back and letting him do all the talking and work, arms crossed and a smile on my muzzle. There wasn't much I could do here now anyway.

But I can't help but notice that, while Shadow's undivided attention was on the inside of the robot's chest cavity to search for whatever he needed to bring this mission to a success, the box with the coordinates was hanging outside by its wires.

And a very small extra series of numbers on the side in those same red lights was quickly counting down. An eyebrow of mine raised in confusion when I noticed it.

By the time I realized what it was, really there weren't even a couple of seconds left, the counter had already reached zero.

"Shadow!" I didn't think twice about reacting, the action just came as natural to me as breathing, especially after all of these years of saving others.

Just before the broken robot would be destroyed in an explosion that I would rather not find out would do what to Shadow, I rushed forward to grab him in the nick of time. The thing went off right as we reached the very edge of the cliff, the heat of it signing parts of fur and quills told us we were only just out of reach. The shockwave of it just nearly didn't send us plummeting off the cliff.

A long silent moment passed as we let the ringing in our ears settle and realisation kick in, Shadow unceremoniously slung over my shoulder in my hurry to get him to safety.

"Well... That's new." I chuckled nervously, trying to not let this stinging sensation of disappointment get to me too much.

Shadow decided not to be the bigger man in this situation.

"Are you kidding me?!" Struggling fiercely to get out of my grip, he got back on his own two feet and made way for the smoking scattered remains of the bot, his Chaos Energy rising to a whole new level.

"We wait nearly five damn months for rescue and this is what we get?! Two fake-outs in a single week?!" You know, Rouge told me more than once that Shadow's temper had calmed down a lot since we first met, for obvious reasons trying to put in a good word for him.

And yes, that was true, but sometimes it did still rear its ugly head. This was one of said scary moments.

Shouting and cursing, Shadow let this entire island know of his frustrations and his apparent need for sanitary facilities as his powers raged beneath his skin, his blood boiling.

I'd calm him down, but as I could feel a Chaos Blast coming up, I figured I should probably keep a safe distance for now.

Needless to say, that cliff looked a whole lot different by the time that day ended.


End file.
